


and let these demons find their way back home

by Snowsheba



Series: Demonstuck [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Demonstuck, F/F, F/M, M/M, Reverse Demonstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-24
Updated: 2014-11-16
Packaged: 2018-02-22 09:17:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2502554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowsheba/pseuds/Snowsheba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You’ve only ever had a single weak point.</p><p>… In retrospect, you probably should have hidden it better.</p><hr/><p>Sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/1062190">and let this cold night’s wind be my witness</a> - not necessary to read, but it makes things much easier to understand; and followed by <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/3287588">Meddlesome Meddling Meddlers</a>, written by the ever-talented <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/sinistralScribe/pseuds/sinistralScribe">sinistralScribe</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. hello old friend, you haven't aged a day

**Author's Note:**

> Really, all I wanted to do was sort of elaborate on Karkat’s character in the story here. And Terezi’s too, I guess. By extension.
> 
> Instead, it became this, this time posted in bite-sized chapters. Hopefully it’s a worthy successor to the past story’s premise.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat ==> Encounter old friend(s)

Your name is KARKAT VANTAS, and

GT: hey karkat! sorry this is short notice, but could you open your door?

you hardly have time to read what John’s text is when he promptly kicks your door in, not quite knocking it off of its hinges but with enough force that Terezi calls loudly, “If it’s the police, tell them she’s not here.”

You don’t reply. You can’t. You’re resisting the urge to laugh, or to reach out to help.

John is carrying Strider bridal-style. You can see quite clearly from here that the blond’s head is lolled backwards, one hand flopped over his stomach (bleeding) while the other droops towards the ground (bleeding), and John is worrying his lower lip and staring down at the demon’s forehead (bleeding). A quick examination from head to toe also reveals that there is a red splotch by his leg (also bleeding. Jesus frick).

“What the fuck,” you manage, and then Strider lets out the most inhumane noise of pain you’ve ever heard and you yell for Terezi. You know just about jackshit about first-aid, you _knew_ you should’ve looked it up sooner but it never seemed relevant. You can feel the blood pulsing in Strider’s veins, his heart pumping the blood out of his wounds, his –

You stop for a second. Breathe in, breathe out a few times, and listen.

... Never have you heard as steady a heartbeat.

You can see from here that he is breathing evenly, not shallow or quick as you had expected, and it’s exactly sixty beats a minute, you can tell from years of listening to clocks tick. John is eyeing you oddly, likely by your strange silence, and you take only a few moments to listen to Strider’s disturbing life rhythm before you demand, “How the shithive maggots did this happen?” gesturing wildly, almost hitting Terezi on her way to invade Strider’s space and sniff all along his body.

“It’s a long story,” John replies enigmatically, and you huff but lead him to the one ratty couch in the place.

* * *

John’s story isn’t very long at all. In fact, it’s merely a repeat of what all demons have faced and not all have survived: demon hunters. The only catch in the story is that those specific demon hunters were Strider’s brother and sister, Dirk Strider and Rose Lalonde.

“It was weird,” John says with a furrow of his brow. A couple of years ago, he would have been acting completely differently – but just months of travels with Strider have matured him, and so instead of panicking, stone-cold logic sees him through. “Like, Rose seemed really reluctant and hung back and stuff, and Dave asked me to stay back, so I did, and he and Dirk were talking up a storm. And then _shhtick!_ Slash slash, blood everywhere.”

John illustrates the story with his hands, making chopping motions that are eerily reminiscent of the cuts painted onto Strider’s body. Terezi is busy with him, having cut away his shirt and part of his jeans, sniffing along to determine the most damage as you cut bandages and hold disinfectant and occasionally use tweezers.

“I have no idea what Dirk was saying,” John went on. “Whatever it was, it put Rose on edge, and she was in the middle of saying something when Dirk brought his blade down. Dave wasn’t even armed, like, he’d told me to hold onto his shitty swords and everything, they’re still in my sylladex and…”

The blue-eyed demon trails off then, lapsing into an uneasy silence as he regarded Strider on the couch.

“Is he going to be okay?” he asked quietly.

Terezi sniffs again – not a sniff that means she’s looking around, but a sniff that means she’s being disdainful. “You know him best, mister Egbert. What do you think?”

You’re about to say something – you can feel his body at work, stitching skin closed, blood mostly flowing to and past wounds, his heart never stopping its strange, rhythmic, impossibly steady pulsing – but Terezi shoots you a sharp glance that tells you to keep quiet. You know better than to try and argue, at least when there are others around, so you settle for crossing your arms across your chest.

“I don’t know,” John replies softly, miserably. You stare at him, a little incredulously. You haven’t seen John in a while – more than a few months, since he and Strider drop by unexpectedly most of the time – but you’ve never seen him hung up like this. You wonder if a relationship like theirs is one you could possibly have with anyone. ( _Probably not_ , your mind whispers, _who do you know that would possibly love you so,_ and you want to stab something.) “It’s been a long time since anything like this has happened.”

“Well, he’s not dead, so that’s a start,” Terezi points out, eyes narrowed in concentration. It might have been odd for a blind girl to stitch up someone’s wounds, but you have yet to encounter someone whose blade is as quick and precise as hers. You’d trust her with a needle over yourself, or anyone else, that much is for certain. “And it doesn’t look like he’s dying soon.”

John lets out a long, drawn-out breath, and you don’t notice the slight breeze he’s been stirring up around the room until it stops.

“My question is why Strider let his siblings get within a hundred foot radius of you,” you say, partly to change the subject, partly to satisfy your own curiosity. “As far as I was aware, he was pretty set on not ever letting them find you.”

“I don’t know,” John repeats, wringing his hands. “I really don’t. You’ll have to ask him when he wakes up.”

“But why the fuck did Lalonde just stand there? Was it only Dirk who did this?” John nods, and you press, “To his own brother?”

“I’m not Dirk Strider, I can’t tell you why he did it,” John shoots back, and you immediately backtrack because if he’s acting like this, it’s more than obvious that he is simultaneously pissed and worried to hell and back and he may or may not try to hurt you. He deflates as he murmurs, “And I don’t know about Rose, either.”

“He could have been talking to her behind your back,” Terezi says, using a tooth to cut the string she’d been using to stitch Strider up.

“No, he wouldn’t have,” John says. His tone isn’t stony, but the look he levels at the Seer is accusing. “Not without telling me. That’s not how we work.”

“That seems very idealist and petty,” Terezi responds blankly, sitting back from her handiwork to swipe ebony hair from her forehead.

John sets his jaw, and says tightly, “You have no idea what it’s like to trust someone utterly and completely, do you?”

“I trust justice utterly and completely,” she replies, all quicksilver smirks and double-edged snark, and you have to send John a look as he prepares to rise to the jab. You get that Terezi is a bag of hyenas sometimes, but she never means ill – not to other demons, at least. Hunters met the far less forgiving side of her.

Fortunately, Strider takes the proceeding silence his cue to wake up, and he does so by – instead of screaming or groaning or anything, literally _anything_ else – calling hoarsely, “John?”

You don’t even see the demon move, when John’s gone from his anxious perch on the arm of the couch to shoving Terezi out of the way and cupping Strider’s face with both hands in less than an instant. “I’m here,” he breathes, gently pressing his forehead to Strider’s, and the red-eyed demon gives him a faint smile before his eyes close again and he lets out a sigh of relief. It’s terribly romantic, and you want to simultaneously puke and swoon at the same time. Terezi has to tug on your arm when you don’t move, and you jump maybe a foot in the air.

Her blank, scarlet gaze somehow betrays her amusement, and you mutter a preemptive _shut_ _up_ as you filter out of the room and leave Strider and Egbert to their… thing. “I’ve never seen a love so pure!” Terezi cackles once she knows the two of you are out of earshot, and per your predictions, she’s grinning like a shark. “It brings a tear to my eyes.”

“Please. I haven’t seen you cry since you looked straight into the fucking sun with a telescope.”

She pouts and nudges you with her extremely bony shoulder, ow. “Karkles, I’m offended! I am fully capable of feeling sadness and having the consequent physical reaction as such.”

“Don’t you always know what’s going to happen next?” you point out, cynicism lending your voice a sharp edge. “So there’s no point in being depressed at any given point in your miserable existence?”

“Now, now, Karkles, that’s what we might say is a defense mechanism called projection.” She sobers almost immediately thereafter, however, and you sigh as she says, “If you want to know how seeing these sort of things work, you should ask the Knight of Time yourself, Karkat. He will know how to explain it best.”

Knight of Time…

When you’d first heard that Strider Junior had been forcibly recruited into demon ranks, his powers had still been dormant. Even now, the only reason anyone knew that his skills extended to time itself was because Jane Crocker, Jake English and Jade Harley had been killed following Strider’s involvement, and then the rumors had spread. True rumors at that – Strider has demonstrated for you at your request.

You guess asking Strider about time wouldn’t be a bad thing, and it isn’t something you’re totally opposed to – he was a very chill guy at the party in Idaho a while back, no doubt – but there was always something about him that struck you as ‘off’, in some way. The way he stood, tall but dead; how his eyes shone with lackluster, if that were possible. How his heart pumps that disturbingly steady beat…

You and Terezi end up in the kitchen. She tells you that she’s going to her room, which means she’s going to do her Seer-y thing again, and you nod as you putter around, gathering edibles that a person who can’t stand and has blood leaking out of them in several places can eat. Once done, you grab a two glasses, fill them with water, and shove the whole mess in your sylladex as you turn around and make your way back to the living room.

John knows you’re coming somehow, because he’s standing next to Strider’s sickbed (sickcouch? Hm) when you peek a head around the wall to see if their little pale interlude is over with.

“Hey, Vantas,” Strider says weakly, eyes half-lidded. “Sorry to ruin your couch with my gross blood. Eurgh.” He laughs, a little hysterically, and then tells you, “Haven’t seen this much of it outside me in a while.”

“You’re a dumbass,” you reply, plain and simple, and Strider makes a little waving motion with his hand when John tenses up at the insult. Terezi was right, it’s clear their relationship is serendipitous, and you feel a little ashamed for having interrupted them – not enough to turn back, of course. “Think you can eat? You too, John, and don’t give me that look, I’m not going to stab him.”

John mutters something under his breath and his companion rolls his eyes, though it’s a little hard to tell as Strider makes grabbing motions with his hands. He stops after two seconds, his expression twisting into one of pain, but nevertheless you mosey over, only to pop the water glasses out of your inventory offer it to John. He’s surprised, for a moment, but then he takes it and bends down to Strider’s level and carefully puts the glass to Strider’s lips.

You have to look away, and you feel like you should be doing something with your hands, but you aren’t sure what, and in the end you shrug inwardly and prepare to make like a tree. This plan is ruined when Strider mutters something, and then John calls out, “Karkat, he wants to talk to you.”

“Oh yes, because I’m a bundle of joy any day of the week.” Strider snorts as you draw closer, sit on the floor in front of him. John has reclaimed his perch on the arm of the couch, and he gives you a look that says he isn’t quite sure what to do if you fuck up somehow. You give him a stone-cold glare in return, as you ask tiredly, “What do you want?”

There’s a pause, where Strider lets out a weak cough-laugh, and then he says hoarsely, “They know about Terezi. Her, uh.” Another pause, like he’s trying to think of the words. He finds his silver tongue a moment later. “Her… powers, I think. I don’t know think they know what they are, though.”

Meanwhile, you and John have locked eyes, with mirroring horror slowly dawning in them.

“You’re sure about this,” you say. You don’t phrase it as a question, because Dave Strider never lies. (He’s not physically able to, not with John’s order hanging over his head, and for some reason he doesn’t seem to mind.)

“Yeah.” Cough. “There’s – something I’m missing here, isn’t there.”

“ _Shit_ ,” John says, drawing out the word to an obscene length, and he is so, so right. You’re out of the place before anyone else says a word.

* * *

When you finally manage to drag Terezi out of her room, she’s more than a little skeptical and extremely irritated at being interrupted from her scrying. You tell her it’s important as you pull her along, walking in on John kissing Strider lightly on the lips before returning to his perch on the arm of the couch. You wrinkle your nose but don’t comment.

“This better be good,” Terezi says, snapping her cane out of her sylladex in order to lean on it. She looks intimidating just in the way she holds herself, but Strider looks hardly fazed. Instead, he gives you a quick rundown of where he was – somewhere in North Dakota, two thirty eight and forty one seconds in the morning, three days before full moon – and then tells you what his brother said.

“Dirk told me he knew about a demon named Terezi Pyrope and her powers. He asked me if I knew who that was. I lied and said I didn’t.”

He tells you about his brother’s plan – find Terezi, hold her captive, get information about demons and locations from her. Both you and Terezi laugh outright at that, until he mentions blessed silver and exorcisms, and then he tells you the real kicker: Dirk is willing to stake Rose’s life. “If I don’t bring you to him in one month or less, he will kill my sister,” he says, his face painfully blank.

“And she’s okay with this?” you demand.

“Of course she fucking isn’t,” he snaps, and then winces when it pulls on a wound somewhere. He adds quietly, “I’ve never seen her so terrified in my life.”

John’s eyebrows knit together and he says, “She looked fine to me.”

“Strilondes have the best pokerfaces,” he replies, and something akin to pain flickers across his face. “I haven’t been talking to her, but maybe I should have, if I’d known Dirk was pulling something like this.”

“You still have her number, don’t you?” John asks, reaching down to run his fingers through Strider’s blond hair.

“I guess,” Strider replies, his eyes closing slightly at John’s touch. “I don’t know what to say, though.”

“Why don’t we just kill your brother?” Terezi asks, her voice sharp.

“Good luck with that. Ever since I killed Roxy, he’s gone off the deep end in the worst way possible.” Strider shakes his head slightly. “I wouldn’t want to fight him ever, unless John’s life was at stake.”

“But if Rose is involved – ” John breaks off, for a moment, and then asks quietly, “That means you’re going to try to help her, right?” Strider’s eyes flick upwards, meeting John’s blue ones.

“Your word is my command, love,” he answered, just as quietly. “I’ll do what you think is right.”

“Jesus Christ,” you hiss under your breath. You know you deserve the elbow jab Terezi levels at you.

“But it’s your sister,” John says, eyes wide, voice cracking. “How can you expect me to – ”

“Your brother abso-fucking-lutely cannot get Terezi,” you growl. Terezi makes no move to reprimand your manners, because she knows you’re right. “Losing our Seer means we can’t protect ourselves.”

“Because that makes perfect sense,” Strider mutters, and you’re reminded that he’s very new to the demon community and that he wouldn’t know. It pisses you off anyway – you would think he’d try to learn about the culture he’s in, but then again, he _is_ new, and you really should cut him some slack somewhere.

“Karkles, why don’t you enlighten them about my duties?” Terezi puts a hand on her shoulder and leans in, whispering, “I will be preparing to leave. Find me when you are finished,” and upon your nod disappears from the room.

John says, “Karkat, you don’t have to stay, I can explain about what – ”

“You heard the Seer,” you snap back, and John appropriately shut his mouth. Strider gives both of you a strange look, and you can feel it again, the blood pulsing through his veins, sixty beats a minute, as you go on, “Seers tell us when demon hunters are on the way or have discovered hives. Then they tell us where it’s safe, and then we run.”

Strider’s eyebrows furrow as he spies obvious problems in this plan. “She does this for the entire world?”

“There’s more than one, and Terezi knows how to network, Dave,” John says, and at the other demon’s narrowed eyes he sighs and says, “Let’s just leave it at that.”

“Doesn’t that mean she’s constantly – ”

“Pretty much,” you reply preemptively.

“But – ”

“ – can’t she see the future of demon hives that are doomed? Yes. That’s why she doesn’t bother telling them sometimes.” You stare at him, willing him to understand. “It’s kill or be killed.”

“But the timelines, there’s always – ” He breaks off to hack something into his hand, which, upon further inspection, he grimaces and wipes on his jeans. His wounds seem to be causing him only minimal pain now, though he may just be covering it up. “There’s always at least one timeline with a more favorable conclusion, so why doesn’t she – ”

Again with the timeline business. Terezi had explained to you once, [in terms of red time and blue time](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1051890/chapters/2212417), and you get the general idea but couldn’t be bothered to understand it further. “Other factors play in, you know – if the demon hive moving affects other demon hives, it’s best not to fuck things up completely,” you say, attempting and succeeding, barely, to not snap at him. “You really want to know, bring it up with the Seer. I’m just her appointed bodyguard.”

“What, so,” Strider grimaces as he braces one hand behind him, and before you can do anything he’s pushed himself into a seated position, pain written all over his face, “You’re not an item?”

You give him a dumbfounded look, receive a blank stare in response, and exchange an incredulous glance with John. “You think she’d slow down for anyone? Hell no. Seers don’t have time for that shit even if they wanted it.”

“Demons are weird,” Strider responds.

“Agreed, they are,” you say with a nod. “Still, we’re still alive even after you humans keep trying to murder us, so I’d say we’re allowed some strange fuckery.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Strider says, a grin flickering onto his face. There’s a moment of silence, and then he says, “Okay, but enough shooting the breeze. You should really get out of here. Time is of essence.”

John rolls his eyes and reminds him, “We should too, dumbass. Your brother still wants to kill me, remember?”

“I would never forget that, John.”

There’s a fierce light in Strider’s eyes, just for a moment, but it disappears the moment you surreptitiously try to get a better look. He looks like a walking corpse, bloody but not broken, alive but not dead, and John helps him to his feet as you turn your head and yell down the hallway, “Are you ready?”

The response is in the form of a sharp-angled girl with red glasses perched delicately on the bridge of her nose, cane in hand, sharp-toothed grin on her face. “Quite,” she says. “But first, a thought for our guests. Strider in particular, actually!”

“I’m listening,” he says. He looks no more pained than usual, but you get the sense he is no more eager to travel than any of you are.

“Have you considered perhaps rescuing your sister?” Terezi examines her nails as Strider’s frown deepens by a fraction of an inch. “I know of a few demons in particular who would likely not be opposed to aiding our cause. One of them happens to be in close proximity of Rose Lalonde’s current location.”

“Actually,” John says, turning to Strider, “That might work. If you let her know.”

Strider hesitates. Doubt is gleaming in his scarlet eyes, but it clears away when he meets and holds John’s gaze, and he says, “Cool. I’m in.”

“Excellent,” Terezi crows as she walks closer, a grin that says she knew his answer all along smeared on her face. “Kanaya will not be pleased, but she will do it.” She gestures with her cane, widely enough that she almost hits you, though at this point you are highly adept at avoiding it. “Come! We will form a plan as we walk.”

“Hobble,” Strider corrects, one arm slung around John’s shoulders, and Terezi cackles as you dutifully follow her, the other two demons behind her. Somehow, even though his face remains entirely impassive, you can hear the smile in his voice as he says, “Let’s get this fruity rumpus asshole factory on the road, then.”

* * *

CG: AND THAT’S THE PLAN.  
CG: ANY QUESTIONS?  
TG: yes  
CG: ANY QUESTIONS THAT AREN’T FROM STRIDER?  
TG: rude  
TT: I am not sure if this is wise. Dirk is not a force one would think of reckoning with.  
TT: And if it is not successful, where does that leave me? Once he is aware that demons have made contact with me, any possibility that I remain alive is narrowed further.  
GA: Are You Insinuating That I Am Not Capable Because I Can Assure You That You Will Be In Most Capable Hands Indeed  
TT: I would never.  
TG: ps thats sarcasm  
TT: Love you too, brother dearest.  
TG: aw sis youre making my kokoro go doki doki  
GT: really?  
TG: nah it only ever goes above sixty when im speeding time up  
CG: THAT EXPLAINS A LOT OF THINGS.  
TG: what  
CG: NOTHING. IF YOU’RE REALLY THAT CURIOUS I’LL TELL YOU LATER.  
CG: ANYWAY, LALONDE. HAVE NO DOUBT THAT KANAYA WILL GET YOU OUT OF THERE BECAUSE SHE FUCKING WILL.  
TT: I remain optimistic.  
GC: Y3T R34L1ST1C4LLY SK3PT1C4L! YOUR S1ST3R 1S W1S3 STR1D3R  
TG: coulda told you that  
GA: If We Might Bring The Topic Back To Its Origin  
CG: YES, THANK YOU KANAYA. AGAIN, ANY QUESTIONS BECAUSE THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU CAN ASK THEM.  
TG: are there any demons versed in life because id like to be healed sooner rather than later  
TG: also will i be able to see rose later  
TT: Will you not kill me on sight?  
GT: jeez, no, of course not! i took back those orders a long time ago. have some faith in me!  
TT: My apologies. I was under the presumption that  
TT: Well, no. Never mind.  
GC: 4G41N 4 W1S3 D3C1S1ON. 1 4M GL4D 3V3NTS 4R3 P4NN1NG OUT 1N TH1S P4RT1CUL4R T1M3L1N3. YOUR S1ST3R 1S QU1T3 4N 1NT3R3ST1NG P3RSON  
TG: yo im not sure if youre aware but youre coming off as real creepy rn  
GA: Clearly You Have Not Known Her For Very Long Because I Hate To Inform You That She Is Always Like This  
GC: TH4NK YOU FOR TH3 VOT3 OF CONF1D3NC3 K4N4Y4 >:[  
GA: Its True  
CG: OKAY THIS IS GETTING NOWHERE SO I’M GOING TO CLOSE THIS MEMO NOW AND WE’LL ALL SPRING INTO ACTION AT EXACTLY TWO A.M. UNDERSTOOD?  
CG: I DON’T EXPECT A RESPONSE TO THAT, JUST DON’T FUCK THIS UP BECAUSE OTHERWISE STRIDER WILL BE A LIABILITY AND TEREZI WILL BE IN DANGER.  
GT: also, i will be sad forever if dave is sad about rose being dead.  
TG: cute  
GT: i’m always cute.  
TG: not as cute as me  
GT: well, obviously. <3  
TG: <3  
TT: Are they always this adorable?  
CG: YES. IT’S HIDEOUS.  
GC: WH4T 4R3 YOU T4LK1NG 4BOUT? 1T 1S 4BOUT TH3 SW33T3ST TH1NG 1 H4V3 3V3R S33N  
CG: YOU CAN’T FUCKING SEE!  
GC: K4RKL3S TH4TS V3RY RUD3  
TG: wait then how the hell does she type  
CG: I’M ALWAYS RUDE, THANKS FOR CLARIFYING. LET’S GET THIS SHITTY THING OVER WITH.

* * *

GT: ok, i am in position!  
TT: And I once again must remind you that I do not believe this plan is wise.

You look up from your phone to give Kanaya a nod. Her skin is porcelain white, but she tones down the glowing until it’s nonexistent before creeping forward. Strider watches her with sharp eyes, a very real, very sharp single-edged sword flipping rhythmically in one hand, though he stops when you shoot him a glare.

CG: REMIND ME WHY YOUR FAMILY LIVES IN A CRAPPY APARTMENT ON THE TOP FLOOR?  
TT: Our older siblings are cheapskates.  
TT: Also, it’s near the roof.  
CG: HOW IS THE ROOF RELEVANT?  
TT: Dave can explain, should you ask.

You’re in charge of keeping Terezi out of trouble as Kanaya silently scales the building to the fire escape. Somehow her footsteps are dead silent on the metal, which by all rights should be rattling with her weight, and you can only watch, holding your breath, as she continues upwards. Somewhere above, John is flying around, ready to swoop in and save the day if something goes wrong.

“Terezi,” you whisper, and the Seer looks over her shoulder, “What’s the future look like?”

“I can’t say for certain,” she whispers back, which is her perpetual answer to that particular question, but then she says, “There are many ways this could go wrong, and only a few timelines show everything going fairly smoothly.”

“With our luck, we’re not going to get the one where everything’s perfect,” Strider mutters from nearby. Terezi flicks a grin in his direction, sharp teeth flashing in the moonlight, and unlike most, he fails to be unsettled, his scarlet eyes and pale face disturbingly blank.

“You really do come to life around John, don’t you,” you murmur, mostly to yourself, but the slight inclination of his head in your direction confirms your statement. You’d feel good about being right if the thought itself wasn’t entirely depressing.

Your phone buzzes, and Strider pops his out of his sylladex to take a look as you peer at your own screen.

GA: I Cannot Find Rose  
GA: I Saw Her Waiting During My Ascent But She Seems To Have Vanished From The Decided Meeting Point

“Fuuuuuck,” Strider groans, and then, “I got this shit, hang tight.”

CG: STRIDER SAYS HE’LL TAKE CARE OF IT.  
GA: I Should Hope So Because The Longer I Stay Hidden Here The More Dangerous The Situation Becomes  
GT: dave, please don’t tell me you’re doing what I think you’re doing.

You look over at Strider to find him texting near the speed of light. His fingers are literally a blur as he goes, and you get the feeling that he has slowed time around himself in order to improve his response time to whomever his verbal sparring partner happens to be.

GT: karkat, if he’s texting his brother, you have to stop him! they’ve been getting off the wrong foot since the whole thing blew over and at this rate he’s putting kanaya and himself in more danger than before.  
GA: Fantastic Just What I Needed To Hear Though That Does Not Explain What Happened To Rose  
GA: She Was Very Responsive Before So Do You Suppose Her Cellular Device Has Been Taken Away  
CG: EITHER THAT OR IT WAS ALL A TRAP.  
TG: say that to my face and ill fucking kill you vantas dont think i will  
GC: TH3 S4D P4RT 1S TH4T H3 WOULD SO K33P TH4T R3M4RK TO YOURS3LF K4RKL3S  
CG: GODDAMN TEREZI, YOU KNOW I HATE IT WHEN YOU DO THAT.  
GT: dave, you have to stop texting dirk. we’ve talked about this, you know it’s a bad idea!  
TG: desperate times call for desperate measures  
CG: SINCE WHEN DID YOUR SISTER MEAN THAT MUCH TO YOU?

Strider’s head shoots up from his phone to give you a hard glare, the only expression you’ve seen so far, before it darts back down to eye his screen again. You sigh and roll your eyes.

GC: H4RSH  
GT: you mean rude!  
GA: Despite Your Useless Banter Being Somewhat Entertaining I Confess That I Would Like To Have Some Form Of Direction To Follow  
GA: What Should I Be Doing Right Now Besides Waiting Around In Hopes That She Will Appear  
TG: chillax like i said i got this  
TG: check the window again  
GA: Oh  
CG: ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS.  
GA: You Are In Rare Form Today Strider  
GT: dave...  
TG: ill talk to you about it later i promise

Three phones simultaneously flip back into sylladexes, and you exchange a look with Terezi – well, she looks slightly over your shoulder, but it’s the thought that counts – and then she looks up and makes a satisfied noise and you turn your eyes up to see Kanaya carrying a half-conscious Rose over her shoulder, darting silently down the fire escape.

“Where’s your brother?” you ask Strider in a whisper. There isn’t a response, and when you look over to where he used to be, you find that he is quite clearly missing.

John lands, follows your gaze, and swears such a colorful array of words that even you’re impressed as Kanaya hits the ground with a solid _thud_. “I recommend that we reconvene at a rendezvous point,” she says in a clipped voice, jostling Rose a bit when the human makes a noise that is half-groan, half-whimper. “Perhaps the one particular clearing in the woods west of Derse?”

“Fair,” Terezi says. “Split, meet in fifteen minutes?” John sighs gustily but nods, and you dart after Terezi when she takes off down an alleyway, knowing without seeing that Kanaya and John have gone in opposite ways.

You still don’t know where Strider is, and you have to admit that this worries you, however slightly.


	2. can't face forward after you turn back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> KARKAT ==> Sense something afoot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the end of the already-written portion, so we'll see how updating goes after this.

By the time Strider makes it to the clearing, Rose has awakened properly and is curled up against a tree with you, Terezi, Kanaya and John sitting around nearby. He’s bloody and his breath is coming out in sharp hisses, but when you tap into his bloodstream you hear his heart pumping at the same steady pace as always. John rushes forward, aided by wind, and then gently presses his forehead against Strider’s before stepping aside, making a gesture towards the one human girl in the group.

The moment the siblings see each other, Strider surges forward and Lalonde snaps to her feet and rushes closer, as if they might hug. You’re surprised when they stop a few feet away from each other. You’re less surprised to hear Terezi’s knifelike cackle ring through the air, only stopping when you physically reach over and slap a hand over her mouth. The two ignore it either way.

“Hello, Dave.”

“Hey, Rose.”

John remains oddly silent as they stare, lips slightly open, eyes searching the others’, hands limp at their sides. Then Rose says quietly, “I missed you,” her voice calm save for just the tiniest hitch at the end.

“I missed _you_ ,” Dave says, and he touches her cheek while she touches his, and then that’s it – she retreats to her tree and he turns and goes over to John, flopping forward onto him as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Which reminds you –

“Strider, get your ass over here,” you call.

When Strider flicks a hand behind his back to flip you off, John looks at you, determines what you’re going to do by the expression on your face, and then snickers and says, “Dave, unless you’d rather feel like a train wreck for the rest of the month, I’d do it.”

“I thought you couldn’t do first aid?” Strider inquires blankly when John brings him over. He’s hobbling; from the irregular bloodflow in his ankle, you get the feeling that he sprained it. You wonder how he managed to make his way back to the hotel in the first place. Adrenaline, you’d wager.

“The general stuff is more up Terezi’s alley, yes,” you admit, making a ‘sit, sit’ motion with your hands, “But given how much shit you’ve managed to do in the past twenty-four hours, I’ll make it easier for you to fuck yourself up later.” When he does sit cross-legged in front of you, you take his thumb and scratch at it with your nail so it bleeds, nipping your own finger with a canine until you achieve the same result.

“This seems remotely unsanitary,” Strider says. You can tell he wants to twitch away, but John’s hand on his shoulder keeps him in place. “Also remotely disgusting.”

“It might sting a little bit,” you inform him, and then you let a drop of your blood fall onto his thumb and reach inside; not the kind of thing where you physically stick your fingers into his flesh – that would be gross and a million times more unclean than what you were currently doing – but where your eyes close and you let yourself flow along Strider’s bloodstream.

Strider lets out a strangled sound when the injuries other than the one on his arm begin to heal, his skin stitching itself to wholeness, bones creaking into proper position, veins and tendons snapping together in a way that can’t be anything other than painful. You can’t know what he’s thinking exactly, but the way his heart tries to speed up, how he forces it back down, where his blood comes and goes – it’s enough to give you a clear indication of his initial panic, followed by general anxiety.

Still, his face remains impassive when you withdraw, your eyes opening as you reel back, touching the tip of your bleeding finger and closing the wound instantly. “Christ,” you breath as he examines the cut on his thumb you’d used in the first place, which is still open and bleeding because you used it as an entry point. “You couldn’t have, you know, dodged a few attacks, maybe?”

“I dunno,” he says with a trace of acid, apparently satisfied with your handiwork and wiping his hand on his dark jeans, “It’s kind of hard to fight when you’re already half-dead.”

“Excuses,” you scoff, and he gives you a cat-flicker grin. John gives you a pained look and you return it with your middle finger, and then Strider stands up and retreats at his beloved’s side. Rose watches them with one eye, and then she looks over at you, and you look at her, and shivers run up your spine at her cool gaze. You’re quick to glance away.

Kanaya says, “You did not overexert yourself, yes?”

“I know my own limits, Kanaya,” you reply, and you don’t even need to glance over to know she is giving you a skeptical look, so you add, “After the fiasco with that juggalo demon in Florida, I’ve learned my fucking lesson, Jesus.”

“It only took you five different instances,” she says lightly, and you glare at her. Her smile is small but lofty. “You look well, which is a welcome sight. Terezi was right to insist on you.”

You can feel the tips of your ears coloring as Terezi laughs, eavesdropping from where she is getting to know Lalonde – which mostly involves sniffing her. The sound that reminds you of claws on a chalkboard, but you’ve heard it so often that you pay it no heed as you remember that fortunately, your hair is long enough to hide your ears from view. “Bring it up with her, I’m just trying not to get us killed.”

“Welcome to the real world,” John calls from across the place, and both Strider and Lalonde let out a little laugh, identical were it not for the different inflections. You flip him off and he grins goodnaturedly, while Kanaya hides a smile behind one hand.

Silence falls.

“What do we do now?” Lalonde asks, quietly. “Dirk will be searching incessantly for us, regardless of whatever deal Dave struck with him.”

“Who said I – ”

“Brother dearest, you are nothing but predictable,” Lalonde replies seamlessly, cutting her brother off with the efficacy of a hot knife through butter. “The only reason Dirk and I failed to catch you and your charge sooner is because of your abilities.”

“Of which you don’t actually know details of, and I’d prefer to keep it that way,” Strider retorts, and then his eyes narrow and he snaps, “And what do you mean, the only reason? S’not like you ever managed to get face-to-face with us unless we wanted you to.”

“Again, bringing the topic to your abilities – ”

“Come on, Rose. You and Dirk aren’t infallible, never have been – even more so now that Roxy and I are gone.”

You look over and see Rose carefully standing in a susurrus of fabric. She advances on her brother, and Strider, sensing this, gently pushes John aside before going to close the distance between them. Her voice is dangerously soft, as she says, “I seem to recall that a certain individual currently present is responsible for our sister’s death.”

“I’d do it a million times over if it kept John safe,” Strider says, just as quietly.

“My, how selfless. It almost makes me wonder if you are truly capable of love.” A knitting needle pops out of her strife syllabus, and she points her weapon at Strider’s throat. The rest of you are on edge, but are seemingly forgotten. “We were closest siblings, Dave. We have gone through so much, and yet you treat me like a stranger.”

 _Me_ , you think. _Abandoned_ me. Rose Lalonde hid behind a mask just as her brother did, but unlike him, she had moments where her true feelings shone through – and you know that as much as she loves her brother, she can’t think of him in the exact same way anymore.

“Since when was this about us, Rose? Nothing’s ever been about us, it’s always been about saving the world from the creatures that made me who I am. Wasn’t that Dirk and Roxy’s message all along? Wasn’t that the reason we bonded so deeply in the first place?” Strider steps back, and his sword flips into his hand, and he says softly, “I loved you, Rose – and a part of me still does. But this isn’t just about you and me; this is about everyone. Everyone in the world.”

“Everyone? Or merely the demons?”

“Is there a difference?”

Fuchsia eyes flash, her fingers closing harder over knitting needles, her stance shifting to one that’s ready to spring into action. “Yes, Dave. There is a gargantuan difference.”

“No, there isn’t,” he says sharply, “And that’s the problem, because as much as you think there is, the fact remains that you still don’t understand why it’s better that we disbanded.” His sword drops so the tip hovers just above the ground. “You haven’t seen both sides of the issue.”

“What side of the issue are we speaking of, exactly? These things,” and here she gestures to you, and Terezi, Kanaya and John, none of which who show any outward reactions of being offended, “Have killed hundreds – hundreds, brother – of my fellow hunters. What about those that have killed innocent civilians?”

“What about serial killers? Pedophiles? School shooters?” Strider returns, his words snapping out like a whip. “Rapists?”

“You are tackling an entirely different ballgame, Dave.”

“Am I? Because I’m pretty sure that more people are harmed from those types than demons.”

“Don’t fuck with me,” Lalonde snaps, temper teetering, on the verge of being lost while Strider seems perfectly relaxed. “I cannot believe that you saying that I should try to sympathize with these monsters.”

“Rose, you have actually sympathized with murderers and other criminals before. You remember those discussions, when we were younger and you thought you’d be the next star therapist?” Lalonde gives a slight, grudging nod, conceding the point, and Strider says, eerily calm, “I don’t see how this is really all that different.”

“It’s different,” Lalonde says through clenched teeth, “Because I have a score to settle.” The moment her eyes shift to John, Strider’s stance shifts, sword raised in front of him, muscles rippling up his arms. “You have no idea what havoc demons have wreaked, Dave, while you’ve been out gallivanting about with your little entourage.”

“Maybe not,” Strider answers, blankfaced, “but at least my foot hasn’t been stuck up my ass for so long that I can’t see the obvious truth when it’s laid bare in front of me.”

Lalonde hisses, fury lighting up in those lavender eyes, and then she lunges for her brother, knitting needles extended. He parries, counterattacks, but she ducks under and he rolls out of the way of her stab. The two begin circling each other, both of them eerily silent, Lalonde’s lips pulled back in concentration while Dave’s face is entirely blank, feet crunching softly on the leaves beneath them.

Your phone buzzes, and Terezi and Kanaya pull theirs out as you do.

GT: should we stop them?

You have to hide a tiny smile, because it seemed your tactless friend had finally learned some subtlety.

CG: HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK WE COULD GO ABOUT DOING THAT? LOOK AT THEM. THEY’RE BOTH PREDATORS.  
GA: Are You Insinuating That You Do Not Think You Could Take Them On Karkat  
CG: YES THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I’M INSINUATING. I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY.  
GC: H3 DO3S H4V3 4 PO1NT. TH3 TWO 4R3 NOT C4LL3D STR1LOND3S FOR NOTH1NG YOU KNOW  
GC: B3FOR3 4NYTH1NG H4PP3N3D TO D4V3 STR1D3R TH3Y W3R3 PR4CT1C4LLY UNSTOPP4BL3  
GC: TH3Y WOULDVE ST4Y3D TH4T W4Y R1GHT UP TO TH3 PO1NT TH4T TH3 LORD COULDVE GOTT3N 1NVOLV3D  
GT: but didn’t you know about what would happen to dave beforehand, terezi?  
GC: 1 SUPPOS3 1 M1GHT H4V3 BUT TH3 L1K3L1HOOD OF STUMBL1NG 1NTO TH4T P4RT1CUL4R T1M3L1N3 S33M3D SO F4RF3TCH3D 1 N3V3R BR34TH3D 4 WORD  
GC: 1 D1D NOT W4NT TO R41S3 4NYON3S HOP3S PR3M4TUR3LY  
GC: 4ND 3V3N SO M4NY D13D FOR TH3 STR1LOND3S F4LL  
GA: I Am Surprised That Rose Lalonde Seems To Be On Equal Terms With Her Brother At Least For The Moment  
GA: I Have Not Sparred With Strider But From What I Can See Even I Would Have A Hard Time Keeping Up With His Speed  
CG: THAT’S BECAUSE HE’S CHEATING WITH THOSE SHITTY TIME POWERS OF HIS.  
GT: actually, he isn’t right now. he’s doing his flashstepping thing.  
CG: YOU’RE FUCKING WITH ME.  
GT: hey, i’ve sparred him a million times, i can tell the difference!

Lalonde doesn’t seem all too fazed either way, parrying and countering Strider’s lightning blows with an elegance and grace borne from experience. You take a few steps back before looking down at your phone again.

CG: I’M GLAD HE’S ON OUR SIDE.  
GA: He Is Now At Any Rate  
GA: If John Were To Perish However He Might Pull A Sollux And We Would Have No Way Of Knowing What Side He Would Be On  
GC: 4 V4L1D PO1NT K4N4Y4! 1T 1S UNL1K3LY BUT TH3 POSS1B1L1TY 1S TH3R3  
CG: GREAT, DOES THAT MEAN WE HAVE TO KEEP JOHN ALIVE NOW TOO? I’M TOO BUSY FOR THIS BULLSHIT.  
GT: i’m still here, you know.  
GA: I Would Assume Strider Has That Covered But If It Is Needed I Could Always Keep An Eye On Him As Well  
GC: YOU 4R3 N33D3D TO K33P 4N 3Y3 ON ROS3 L4LOND3 K4N4Y4. DO NOT FORG3T TH4T!  
GC: UNT1L D4V3 STR1D3R 4ND H1S BROTH3R H4V3 R34CH3D SOM3 SORT OF UND3RST4ND1NG TH4T M4Y OR M4Y NOT 3ND 1N D34TH W3 MUST K33P H3R 4W4Y FROM H3R OLD3R BROTH3R  
CG: EVEN IF SHE WANTS TO FUCKING MURDER US IN OUR SLEEP??  
GC: 3SP3C14LLY 1F SH3 W4NTS TO MURD3R US IN OUR SL33P

Strider has Lalonde at his mercy when you look up again, bearing down on her with his blade while her needles hold him away from her, and as you watch she yields with an irritated nod of her head. When he withdraws, sword popping back into his syllabus, she slowly rises and gently dusts off her skirts before her needles similarly disappear.

They stare at each other for a few moments.

“He caused us so much pain, Dave,” Lalonde says quietly, indicating John with a slight motion of her head.

Silence.

“I know.” Strider is just as quiet. John looks none too pleased to see that his beloved agrees with her.

“He made you kill our sister.”

“I know he did.” Strider's voice is perfectly neutral.

You can barely hear her when she says, “He took you away from _me.”_

John shifts when Strider says almost inaudibly, “I _know,_ Rosie. I know.”

They continue to watch each other, violet eyes searching scarlet ones, and then you furrow your brow when they embrace, weapons disappearing into sylladexes. John is tensed, like he may interrupt if no one stops him, but Kanaya raises an arm to block him when the two siblings with their odd, odd relationship don’t separate after a several seconds.

... Strider’s relationship to John is not serendipitous, you realize now. How could it be, when the other could control the other exactly as he willed? Sure, he had his own feelings and ideas and could voice his opinions, but in the end, John had total control. What would you do if you suddenly did not have the final say of what your body could do? Though you can't deny that Strider would do everything under the sun for John, if it came down to it...

You shiver as Lalonde and Strider break apart and find you can’t look John in the eye when he casts you a questioning glance.

* * *

You’re not sure when you and Terezi began following the little troupe, but neither Strider nor John seemed to mind, and Kanaya had come along due to being the Lalonde's primary guard. It’s a refreshing change of pace, if you’re being honest; being with the Seer means you don’t move around too much, and though your legs burn at the end of the day, you feel truly alive.

Still, something nags at the back of your head, and a few days after Lalonde’s kidnapping, you sit down next to Strider and make a shooing motion to John. The blue-eyed demon obliges after kissing the tip of Strider’s ear, and then he ambles off as you roll your eyes and Strider turns to you.

“’Sup,” he says.

“Literally, or as a conversational starter? Because if it’s either you can shove a pitchfork up your ass.”

One pale eyebrow lifts fractionally. “Get up on the wrong side of bed, Vantas?”

“Always.” This startles a snort out of him, and then you say, “I wanted to ask what you said to your brother the other day.”

“When we got Rose?”

“No, when you talked to your brother about moving back in – of course the day we kidnapped her, numbnuts.” You fix him with a level stare. “How the hell did you manage to pull it off?”

He doesn’t respond right away, instead looking down at his feet and shuffling them in the leaves. The six of you are taking a break somewhere in a forest, and though you cannot see them, you know the others are nearby, their heartbeats pulsing quietly in your ears.

He says, “I did a stupid thing.”

“Which would entail what, exactly.”

He gives you a crooked grin, says nothing for a bit. Then: “Offered myself up after I took Rose far away from him. Soon as we reach wherever safety is, I’m as good as dead.”

Your first reaction is _holy fuck he’s a dumbass_.

Your second reaction is to say, “Holy shit, you must have been dropped as a baby because what the _fuck_ were you thinking that would accomplish.”

He shrugs, a little too languidly for someone who signed their own death warrant a few days ago. “Rose will be safe. John will be safe. You and Terezi will be safe. Hell, maybe even Kanaya will be safe.” His grin fades. “Figured it was worth it in the end.”

“Does John know?”

“Of course he does.” He says this like it’s a stupid question. Thinking about it now, you realize that it is. John wasn’t kidding when he said he and Strider trusted each other more than anything you could ever know, even though he might have ordered Strider to think that way. Urgh. “He’s pissed as hell but what can he do? This is Dirk we’re talking about. Roxy was clever and our leader and our brawn, but he was our brainpower.” Strider sighs. “Wish I could change what I did, but all that really matters is that Rose is still alive and will hopefully stay that way.”

You shake your head, more than a little incredulously. Strider is both the gutsiest and stupidest person you’ve ever met, but he’s always been entirely selfless about everything he does. The bargain he’d struck only solidifies this image of him - though he had failed to consider one single variable in his equation.

“John will fall apart if you die, you know,” you say, and Strider’s mouth twitches fractionally downwards. “He might be safe, but he’ll be as good as dead when you’re gone.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Strider says. “He’s always been the stable one.”

“That’s not how moirallegiance works, you dumbfuck.” His brow furrows, and you silently pray that it’s because he’s listening to you and not because he doesn’t know jackshit about demon romance as you press, “You do realize that John’s always been shit at quadrants and you are probably the best thing that ever happened to him?”

“Flattering,” Strider says. His brow has yet to unfurrow. “Though the state of his quadrants are completely none of your business. Also, slap me if I’m wrong, but most people can recover from the death of a loved one.”

You reach out and slap him. You can tell he wasn’t expecting it because he didn’t make a single move to dodge, and he gives you a disgruntled look as you tell him, “Moirails are like soulmates. You are literally his other half. He will not be able to get another half if you get yourself fucking _killed.”_

“You of all people know that even if I'm his other half, he could always _make_ another.” You wince - he of all people would know how little free will he had - and his eyes flash, and he spins the metaphorical gun so it's trained you as he snaps, “And why do you even care? It’s not like you’ve ever shown this sort of enthusiasm in our lives before. Even if I do die, and John by proxy dies, what do you care? You live with the Seer, for fuck’s sake. I bet you understand ‘for the greater good’ better than anyone.”

You stare at him. He glares back, defiant. It then hits you that something is actually quite wrong.

“Oh my god.” He blinks at your sudden change in tone. “You don’t know anything, do you?”

“Define ‘anything’,” Strider growls. John looks over and sends you a glance that says _are you done hassling him yet_? You subtly flip him off.

“John is a fucking Heir, Strider. An _Heir._ He doesn’t like admitting that he is, but if he dies before he can claim the title’s rights – ” Strider’s expression tells you that this is all lost on him, and you throw over your shoulder, “Goddammit, John, have you told him _nothing_ of your heritage?” John flinches, but obediently makes his way over to you when you gesture angrily. You want to kill something, preferably by stabbing it repeatedly. “And here I was beginning to think you two were able to just talk to each other about fucking anything! Jesus shit.”

“It never came up,” John admits as he returns to the two of you, and then he adds in a quieter voice, “And I’ve been running from it ever since I was born.”

“Running from what?” Urgh, here they went with their ridiculous PDA again, linking hands and pressing themselves against each other like the fucking adorable messed-up idiots they are. “Dammit. You’d think I’d know more about demon culture but hell, there aren’t any resources except this fucker right here and sometimes he keeps his goddamn mouth shut.” You can tell this is a friction point between these two, as Strider glares at John, who merely shrugs and gently headbutts him.

“Settle down, morons.” They do, surprisingly, and you snap, “All right, Strider, listen up, I’m giving you the crash course version to basically the core of demon society. Don’t interrupt or I’ll punch you in the dick.”

“With a threat like that, how could I refuse – ” He bites down on his words a moment later when your fist draws back, raising his eyebrows. You scowl back at him and get to the point before you get too pissed to continue.

“Demon society is divided by a hierarchy. Up top are the Heirs, the Princes, the Seers – everyone else is like average, so the Knights, the Sylphs, the Maids, Pages, Bards, Witches, Rogues, Thieves, Mages, I forget some others. You, me,” You point to him, point to yourself, “Pretty sure you’ve heard the term thrown around, but we’re Knights, you of Time, me of Blood. Terezi’s Seer of Mind. Kanaya’s Sylph of Space. And John?” You turn your eyes on John, who isn’t looking at you. “John is Heir of Breath.”

“Which means?”

You debate whether he deserved being punched when he asked a question; in the end, you keep your hand lowered and say, without looking away from John, “Which means he inherits, in this case from the Lord, or the Muse. Except the Muse is dead because the current Lord is a dumb sack of shit, which is the whole problem because – ”

“Karkat.”

John’s voice is soft but authoritative, and you obediently shut your mouth, glaring at him the whole while. He shakes his head, keeping you silent, and turns to Dave.

“It’s complicated,” he says.

“No shit, if you’ve kept it from me this long.”

Something passes between them, and Strider pulls his hand away from John’s to press both gently against his closed eyes. He remains like this for a few moments, his heartbeat's tempo abruptly slowing to forty-five, you'd estimate, and then it jumps back to sixty and his eyes are open again.

“I’ve felt him in the timestream before. The Lord, you called him.” Strider looks over at you, sensing the unasked questions, but you don’t miss how John’s eyes widen. Seems they were both keeping secrets from each other. “Strangest fucking thing I’ve ever experienced. It’s almost as if he’s from a different timeline entirely, but not quite, because he doesn’t disrupt the timestream.” He hesitates. “It’s more like it goes around him without affecting the timeflow, but he could reach out and change it with a snap of his grubby little fingers.”

“Sounds about right,” you say, with a nod to Terezi, who had during this time meandered closer to listen in. “Terezi, he’s the Lord of Time, right?”

“Unfortunately,” the Seer replies, frowning. “It was fine when his sister was around to keep him in check, but now that she’s dead, keeping him from destroying everything he sees grows more challenging.”

“He’s got complete mastery over my aspect,” Strider says, expression carefully blank. “He’s sensed me around, too. He could probably find me if he wanted to.”

“That means he could get a hold of me,” John says, face ashen, and then he turns to Strider and asks, painfully earnest, “Why didn’t you tell me this? If he finds me, then – ”

“It never came up,” Strider responds flatly, and John recoils. You look to and from the two of them, and then at Terezi when she neatly folds her legs and sits beside you. “And we’ve been running around so much that the likelihood of him catching up is minimal.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that if he knows where you are, he knows where I am!” John protests.

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

“I’m always worried about you, dumbass!” John puffs out his cheeks and exhales, stilling the soft breeze stirring the air, and says at a normal volume, “I’m always afraid I’ll lose you because you’ll sacrifice yourself for me.”

That sounds like a legitimate fear, now that you think about it, because Strider would throw himself into any sort of danger if it meant John would remain safe.

... You feel like you’re forgetting something for some reason.

“I can tell when he’s within fifty miles, and it’s not like he can teleport anywhere. He travels slowly.”

“Yeah, but how slowly?”

“Does it matter? He hasn’t caught up to us now.”

It strikes you that you can feel both Lalonde’s heartbeat and another one next to it. The three demons close to you of course make up for the loudest of the soft beats, but Kanaya doesn’t have a pulse because she is a rainbow drinker. Someone not belonging to your merry band is close by.

“Terezi,” you say, and she nods as you get to your feet. John and Strider shut up long enough to look at you questioningly. “Keep arguing, I’ll be back later, and don’t let anyone get close.”

“Yes, dad,” Strider says docilely, and he ducks under your halfhearted smack as you go off, following your inner ear. You recognize the foreign heartbeat from somewhere, but you’ll need to get closer to be sure.

A sense of dread settles in your bones. You do your best to ignore it as you close the distance between you and Lalonde and hopefully Kanaya and the stranger’s heartbeat. You freeze in place once you get close enough to hear voices, and while you can’t distinguish it for certain, you can recognize the pulse from here.

Someone comes up close to you – Kanaya. Seems she’s been watching for a while, and she takes her phone out to communicate without letting Lalonde or Sollux Captor know that you are both close.

GA: She Attempted To Kill Me Earlier  
CG: AND IT DIDN’T WORK BECAUSE?  
GA: I Sensed The Motion Before She Did It Obviously And Then Pretended She Landed A Solid Hit While In Reality I Moved With The Blow  
GA: She Was Very Thorough But It Is Difficult To Determine If A Person Is Dead Or Not When Said Person Does Not Have A Pulse  
CG: YOU ARE THE BEST, KANAYA. IT IS YOU.   
CG: I'LL HAVE TO ASK SOLLUX LATER ABOUT WHAT HE'S UP TO. WITH ANY LUCK HE'S ATTEMPTING TO MISLEAD HER.  
GA: He Has Been Lurking Behind Us For Some Time As Far As I Am Aware  
GA: I Could Not Find An Appropriate Time To State That Verbally However Due To Lalondes Close Proximity  
GA: It Seems I Neednt Have Worried  
CG: YOU COULD'VE TEXTED ONE OF US.  
GA: I Did Which Is Why I Said State That Verbally Just Before  
GA: I Texted Terezi  
GA: But If She Did Not Alert You Then She Mustve Known You Would Have Come Over Here And Learned For Yourself

The two of you take a few cautious, quiet steps backwards.

CG: THINK WE CAN CONVINCE HER THAT I DID SOME VOODOO-BLOOD BULLSHIT THAT BROUGHT YOU BACK TO LIFE?  
GA: It Is Worth A Shot

She leads you back to the place where she had been killed, and you kneel down next to her as she carefully settles herself exactly as she had fallen, laying her head delicately across the battered roots of an old tree.

You give it a few moments. Then she closes her eyes and you swear voraciously and loudly, quickly calling Lalonde's attention to you, her heartbeat rapidly speeding up. Sollux's pulls away from your sense, growing ever-distant, as Lalonde's nears, and you're up and pointing twin sickles at her as she attempts to stealthily approach. Sensing her defeat, she comes out into the open, and then actually jumps when Kanaya abruptly sits up.

“Thank you, Karkat,” Kanaya says, getting to her feet and smoothing her hair into place. She regards Lalonde coolly. “Perhaps you would like to apologize, hm? It was rather crude of you to go for head trauma, considering your weapon of choice.”

Lalonde says nothing, even when you snarl wordlessly, and then the three of you begin the trek back to the clearing. When you get there, John and Strider are still arguing with Terezi presiding.

You don't give any indication that anything has changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in the next chapter, sollux captor shows up and terezi pyrope becomes even more relevant - and cryptic.
> 
> (will the author ever figure out how she feels about John and Dave's relationship? probably not, lol)


	3. you're just another card in the deck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat ==> Get into a lot of fights

CG: THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS SKULK AROUND WITH *SOME* DEGREE OF SKILL, YOU ENORMOUS TOOL.

The response is instantaneous.

TA: there’2 no rea2on two ever try around you, a22hole.  
CG: FUCKING EXCUSES, POT.  
TA: 2tfu kettle.   
TA: but hey, what diirk doe2n’t know won’t hurt hiim.  
CG: I WAS WONDERING ABOUT THAT.  DID HE HIRE YOU OR SOMETHING?  
TA: kiind of.  
TA: diirk know2 the term2 he and dv came two iinclude the fact that he ii2n’t 2uppo2ed two follow hii2 brother, 2o he a2ked me two do iit iin2tead.  
TA: though a2 far a2 he know2, ii’m doiing iit out of the goodne22 of my own heart.  
CG: UH HUH.  
CG: DON’T TELL ME YOU TOLD HIM THAT.  
TA: wiith a 2traiight face, even. and he bought iit.  
CG: THAT’S... REALLY FUCKING SAD, ACTUALLY. WOW.  
TA: ii’m good at conviinciing people, 2omehow iin my fucked-up exii2tence. ii mean, ii’ve managed two trick the entiire hunter communiity that ii’m on theiir 2iide for year2, 2o.  
CG: POINT.  
CG: DOESN’T CHANGE THE FACT YOU’RE ACTIVELY PUTTING TEREZI IN DANGER, THOUGH.  
TA: tz can handle her2elf. be2iide2, you’re the one keepiing an eye out for her. ii’d be more worriied about that in the long run, becau2e once people know you’ve faiiled...  
CG: HEARTLESSLY CYNICAL AS ALWAYS. GOOD TO KNOW YOU HAVEN’T CHANGED, YOU ASSHOLE.  
TA: look who'2 the pot now kk.  
CG: SHUT UP.  
TA: ehehe.  
CG: I WAS GOING TO ADD THE INEVITABLE 'KETTLE' PART OF THAT STUPID HUMAN JOKE BUT FUCK IT, WE'RE MOVING ON. WHAT WERE YOU AND LALONDE TALKING ABOUT YESTERDAY?  
TA: 2uiit yourself.  
TA: and nothiing much. ii texted her two tell her ii would be followiing behind your merry liittle band, and 2he brought iit upon her2elf two attempt two murder kn in order two, and ii quote, “better conver2e”.  
TA: the striilonde2 are kiind of fucked up.  
CG: WATCHING STRIDER AND LALONDE INTERACT HAS BEEN ENOUGH TO PROVE THAT MUCH.  
TA: ii bet.  
TA: dv seems pretty ok though. for a turned. who al2o u2ed two be a really fuckiing good demon hunter.  
CG: YOU’VE MET HIM?  
TA: briiefly. when ii helped hiim diifu2e a bomb and kiill aa.

That had been a rough time. He’d called you halfway across the country sobbing your goddamn ear off, and you and Terezi had had to make an impromptu field trip to go make sure he was all right. It had killed you to see your moirail degraded to such a sorry state, but you’d done all you could, and that would have to be enough.

(He’s still not completely all right, but he’s better. You know he is, even if he still can’t bring himself to say her full name.)

CG: HUH. YOU NEVER MENTIONED IT.  
TA: never 2eemed relevant, ii gue22.  
CG: NEVER WAS, UNTIL NOW. WHICH BRINGS US TO MY MAIN QUESTION THAT I’VE ASKED MORE THAN A FEW TIMES ALREADY: WHAT DID YOU AND LALONDE TALK ABOUT?  
TA: ii wa2 gettiing to that, je2u2, that wa2 only the 2econd tiime you a2ked. and iit wa2 weiird, two 2ay the lea2t. rl want2 two 2omehow kiill all of you except her brother and fiind a way to ‘cure’ hiim.  
TA: 2he ii2 al2o fully aware that diirk really ju2t want2 to kill dv and wiill al2o kiill her iif iit mean2 he can get two hiim.  
TA: 2o 2he’2 hopiing to triick you iinto helpiing her fiight off diirk whiile leaviing dv unharmed.  
CG: SHE WANTS US TO KILL DIRK STRIDER?  SERIOUSLY?  SHE DOESN’T SEEM THE TYPE.  
TA: well a2 ii recall 2he kiill2 demon2 for a liiviing.  
CG: YEAH, BUT THIS IS HER OWN BROTHER.  
TA: iif there’2 one thiing that’2 completely obviiou2 iit’2 that rl love2 dv uncondiitiionally. diirk, not 2o much.  
TA: ii don’t know what 2he’d be wiilliing to 2take, but ii wouldn’t put iit pa2t her two 2acriifiice diirk for dv.  
CG: I WANT TO SAY THAT’S A GOOD THING, BUT AT THE SAME TIME  
CG: I MEAN. IT’S DIRK STRIDER.  
CG: EVEN HIS OWN BROTHER DIDN’T WANT TO FIGHT HIM UNLESS ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING WAS ABOUT TO GO TO HELL.  
TA: ii’m pretty 2ure all of u2 could take hiim on wiithout two many problem2.  
CG: YEAH, IF WE CAN FIGHT WELL WITH EACH OTHER. WHICH I HONESTLY DOUBT, BECAUSE YOU AND TEREZI AND ME CAN WORK FINE, AND SO CAN JOHN AND DAVE AND MAYBE DAVE AND ROSE, BUT ALL OF US TOGETHER?  
CG: KIND OF A FUCKING STRETCH IF YOU ASK ME.  
TA: we’ve got tiime. we’ll fiigure iit out.  
TA: not liike ii’m goiing anywhere el2e anytime 2oon.  
CG: I GUESS. WEIRD, I’LL ACTUALLY GET TO TALK TO YOU FACE-TO-FACE.  
TA: exciited?  
CG: OBVIOUSLY NOT. WHY WOULD I MISS A BLITHERING SHITHEAD LIKE YOU?  
TA: ii feel 2o loved, kk. 2o goddamn loved.  
CG: YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN, YOU ASS.  
TA: yeah ii do.  
TA: ◊  
CG: ◊

* * *

Lalonde attempts to kill you the following night, when you’ve all stopped at a hotel to mooch off of their electricity and get some rest from a couple of days’ hard travel. You are perfectly capable of protecting yourself, but you’d be lying if you didn’t say she didn’t give you a run for your money. You’re still duking it out in the hallway five minutes later, grappling with her as she straddles you, attempting to stab your throat, when Strider’s voice says loudly, “ _Oi_.”

Lalonde fluidly rolls out of the slash of one of your sickles, her needles disappearing into her sylladex. You keep your blades out and slowly begin to push yourself into a seated position, hoping she wouldn’t startle and, like. Brain you or something. Strider keeps talking in the meantime.

“The hell are you doing, Rose.”

“Passing the time.”

“By murdering my friends?”

“I would hardly call it murdering, brother dearest. He isn’t dead, is he?”

Strider doesn’t react beyond crossing his arms loosely across his chest. “You would be if you pushed him too much, sis.”

“I’m sure I would have worn him down eventually.”

“Physically, yes. But being a demon, he has bullshit powers that you do not.”

Lalonde huffs at that, but she knows that she is outnumbered and will be easily defeated, and so she retreats to the room she shares with Kanaya – the demon she is convinced now that she is not capable of killing. You only relax when her door clicks, and then Strider’s offering you a hand and you take it and stand up.

“Thanks,” you say gruffly, despite yourself. Strider was right, Lalonde would have gotten you after some time (girl has stamina, Jesus), though to be fair, you had been careful to not use your Blood powers. “I owe you one.”

“Don’t mention it.” He lets go of your hand, _John wasn't kidding when he said he was a furnace_ , and he says, “You wanna strife?”

“Uh, no?” You feel disconcerted by the deadness of his eyes and expression. While his voice is smooth and mellow and betrays the emotions he feels, it’s fucking disturbing given the empty, blank expression on his face and the almost nonexistent sparks of life in his scarlet eyes. “I nearly got my ass kicked already. I think I’m good.”

“C’mon, please? John says he hasn’t ever won against you.”

“That’s because he’s the slowest motherfucker who uses hammerkind this side of the planet.” You point a finger at him. “You, however, use bladekind and can do some sort of flashstep bullshit. So, no. Pass.”

He sighs, rubs his hand with his forehead, and then says, “At least hang out with me for a bit. John’s being a stuffy asshole and I can’t deal with Rose right now.”

You think back to where Terezi is, locked in a room with a number you’d been sure to keep from Lalonde. You suppose it can’t hurt, and you’ll admit you could use some fresh company sans-Egbert, and so you nod and say, “Fine, but we can’t go far from the hotel. Clear?”

“Crystal.” He gives you a small smile, which widens when you stare. “What?”

“Nothing,” you hear yourself say.

“I might be more readable around John, but that doesn’t mean I’m always pokerfaced.” In an instant his face is eerily empty again, eyes dead and glassy, and in the next he’s grinning, you can see it takes effort and oh god he has _dimples_ , even as a part of you recoils from his sudden and unpredictable expression changes, fuck. “It’s become kind of instinctive at this point, because I swear hunters can smell fear.”

“You were a hunter once. You would know.” You’re surprised you’re still able to talk, because your brain is attempting to trip over itself at the idea that there is a lot more depth to Strider than you originally thought. You can hear Terezi telling you that she told you so in the back of mind.

“I was part of a unit,” Strider corrects, grin fading to a small, natural smirk. You haven’t seen it on his face before, but considering how easily he keeps it there, you suppose it was an expression he adopted often. “A Strilonde might be fearsome just by name, but no one is afraid of just plain old Dirk Strider.”

You give him a quizzical look; you’ve heard the stories from him, whenever he and John had come to visit. “That’s a goddamned lie.”

“Obviously.” By this time he’s led you to the hotel lobby, where the two of you take up residence in armchairs tucked into the corner. The sunlight streams from the windows, making you squint; you won’t be on the move until nightfall. “Yo, but actually, I meant to talk to you about something.”

“If it’s about Terezi’s Seer-y powers, John’s Heir thing, or Kanaya, it’s off the table,” you say automatically.

Strider raises an eyebrow and says, “Nah, brah. This is about you, and your whole deal with my basically being under John’s every command.”

You give him a long, even look. He looks genuine, or at least he’s trying to, which you suppose has to count for something.

“This should be good,” you say evenly.

He gives you a hint of a smile, and then says right off the bat, “I don’t like it.” When you don’t respond – you’d gathered, it was already pretty obvious – the hint becomes more pronounced and he says, “Much as I love John to pieces, it’s kinda depressing to know I basically have to do everything he says. Hell, if he had a fetish or something, who knows what shit would happen.”

“You’re moirails,” you say tartly. “You won’t have to worry about that. He’d probably kill himself if he had to hurt you.”

“He most definitely would,” Strider agreed. “That doesn’t change the fact that he could literally order me into being a different kind of person, though.”

You… hadn’t even thought of that. Holy shit, that’s messed up as fuck.

“I know it’s bothering you and all that, but I really think it’d be better if you didn’t rub it in his face all the time.”

“I do not – ”

“You do too. Only an idiot would miss those looks you’ve been giving him. Fortunately for you, John is still that kind of idiot.” Strider shrugs, and then says, “Look, the fact John hasn’t done anything at all should be an indication that you can trust him. He never orders me around unless he absolutely must.”

You think about this, and then say, “I am still very fucking uncomfortable about the idea.”

“And that’s okay, but you’ve been a demon since forever, dude. Don’t know why this is affecting you so much, to be honest.”

“It’s different when it’s someone you know. There aren’t many demons who can Turn humans like John.”

“So I’ve heard. Still, if you would at least try not to be so obvious about it, I’d appreciate it.”

You consider refusing, just for the hell of it, and also because you’re not sure if you could conceivably pull it off – you hold grudges for a long time. But you suppose you owe it to the guy, especially considering the horseshit he has to put up with, so you reluctantly nod. He smiles and doesn’t speak.

The two of you continue to sit in this comfortable silence until a slight stirring of air warns you John’s on the way. He doesn’t go so far as to float down the stairs (the human receptionist would totally believe it to be stuntwork. Yeah, no), but the speed he moves at indicates something a little strange about him. The receptionist doesn’t seem to notice either way.

“I was looking for you,” John told Dave, and he casts both of you a curious glance. “What were you talking about?”

Dave looks right at John. There is a moment of silence. Then he says, completely and utterly straight-faced, “Karkat and I were talking about the merits of fitting round pegs into slightly smaller round holes.”

A pause, spanning three entire heartbeats.

“That’s disgusting,” John says flatly, and you sputter, hiding a fierce grin behind your hand. You’re pretty sure your face is bright red as Strider continues to laugh. “Also, last time I checked, your flush quadrant was as empty as your apple juice stock.”

Dave abruptly calms down and says in a quiet, dangerous voice, “Did you take my AJ again?”

John is grinning devilishly. “Might have.”

“You think this is a joke, John? Taking a man’s ambrosia away from him?”

“Nectar in this case, and hell yeah I do.”

Dave lunges at him and the two briefly wrestle on the floor, smiling and laughing, and you watch them with a strange, distant fondness as they get up following the glare of the receptionist. Dave casts you one last glance as he and John retreat back upstairs, and he legitimately winks at you before they disappear.

To be honest, you’re more relieved than anything else, because knowing that at least Dave is all right with the situation he is in - or at least, he’s made peace with it - gives you some comfort.

* * *

The idea, from what you understand, is to get Lalonde to the other side of the country. Dirk is still stationed in Houston, Texas, presumably at least, which meant the idea is to bring her to a place called Rainbow Falls, somewhere in Minnesota or something. Kanaya assures you it’s isolated; John tells you it’s basically Canada. You tell them you don’t care what happens to her, so long as Terezi doesn’t get killed.

Fortunately for you, Sollux promised you years ago that he would tell you if he heard her voice among the imminently deceased. Even now, you don’t feel guilty in demanding that he check, and you still feel that cool trickle of relief when he impatiently tells you that everything is fine. Dave and Terezi are quick to assure you the same, though Dave has already warned you his word might not be the most reliable: though he can see the timelines, he can’t predict which one the future will take. He’d referred to it as the alpha timeline, and had gone silent when you asked about the Beta ones. (John told you later that it was better not to know.)

But for the moment, you’re still not sure why you’re still following Dave and John and Kanaya and Lalonde. Terezi covers for it by insisting it was a Seer-y thing; you just feel something in your blood. Something is going to happen, and your Knightly instincts can sense it. You know Dave feels it too, however much he would deny it if you asked, and you wish you knew what it was. Knights protected through sacrifice, after all.

Beyond all of your own insecurities and all that fuckery, Dave, per the terms of his deal with his brother, informed Dirk that he will be somewhere in Michigan within two weeks, and will tell him exactly when he arrives – alone. Everyone knows that last part’s bull, including Dave himself, but Sollux backs him up and Dirk ends up agreeing, however reluctantly, to go there.

Meanwhile, you and Kanaya had commandeered a car via stealing and a bit of spatial manipulation. Kanaya had gently but firmly refused teleporting all of you to Rainbow Falls – something about not having enough power to move five other people, something about not being able to make two return trips without potentially drinking someone dry – and Terezi had suggested putting her talents to use in something else. Thus, the car, or van, rather. You don’t even need a key: Kanaya can shape anything to fit into the socket.

Terezi wants to drive, but no one lets her, and in the end she’s sulking in shotgun while Kanaya is at the wheel, with you and John in the first row and Lalonde and Dave in the back, the assumption being she wouldn’t kill her brother and couldn’t stab her needles through the seat in front of her. John is clearly uncomfortable with the setup but doesn’t say anything, and you don’t miss how Dave’s hand reaches forward to clasp John’s, lightly and awkwardly, around the side of the seat nearest to the door.

No one says anything for the first three minutes,

Then Kanaya turns on the radio. It’s automatically tuned to the national news, and she manages to listen in right as the news anchor is listing the location of known hives and corresponding bounties. Yours, Prospit, is not mentioned, but you don’t dare show any reaction as such. Neither do Terezi or Dave or Kanaya, though you notice that Dave absently reaches out to grasp Lalonde’s wrist, his thumb running up and down her skin lightly, and when he does so, Lalonde’s muscles visibly relax.

After a few minutes of endless droning and news tragedies and successes, celebrations and failures, Lalonde says, “Sollux Captor is following us.”

The only one who is surprised is John, whose eyes widen fractionally, barely detectable; you suppose Dave had either overheard a conversation or did some time bullshit. Terezi says, “As much as you think you can surprise us, miss Lalonde, you forget that we are demons and that we _know_ things!”

“You are not concerned? He is a demon hunter as well, you know.”

“We can take him,” you say dismissively. You wish you were telling the truth; Sollux’s psionics would be ridiculously effective against you and Kanaya, and while Terezi’s Mind powers and John’s windy thing might be able to help a bit, you’re not holding out hope, not even with Dave's time-travel shit he and John have told you about. “Five of us, one of him.”

“Two, including myself.”

“Good luck with that,” Dave said. He was still stroking his sister’s wrist with his thumb, the other hand still lightly intertwined with John’s. “Karkles won’t let you get close enough to help out.”

“Fuck you, don’t call me that,” you say automatically, _why did he have to pick up Terezi’s stupid nickname_ , adding at the end, “Besides, if Sollux catches up, what will you do if he goes after Dave?”

Lalonde’s lips thin, and she says nothing. You view that as a small victory, as the news anchor drones on about the wars in countries across the sea, and make a mental note to inform Sollux of Lalonde’s thoughts as soon as possible.

Dave says suddenly, “Rose, no – ” and that’s enough warning for you to surge forward, something puncturing your seat with a solid _thunk_. You briefly thank your past self’s idea of not wearing a seatbelt as you turn and view two sharp, violet points peeping out from the seat cushions.

Jesus shit, you are fed _up_ with this bullshit. Her heartbeat pounds in your ears, as you stare into her eyes, and you reach out, feeling along her veins until you can feel her heart, pumping steadily despite everything, and bump it up a few notches. Your fingers of one hand move in ragged patterns, palm upward, twisting and flicking seemingly sporadically, and even John, who has seen this before, stops everything to stare. Terezi has gone still, but she hasn’t said anything yet, and Kanaya keeps her eyes carefully on the road as your fingers still, save for your thumb, which moves steadily back in forth in time with her heartbeat.

“Is this how you deal with frustration, Lalonde? Violently trying to kill people?” you ask quietly, sarcasm dripping from your voice like venom. A sudden flex of your fingers, and she lets out a tiny little exhalation as her heart clenches and releases, one that puts Dave on edge as he stares you down. “You’re the perfect example of a demon hunter, aren’t you? No wonder you fit in with the Strilondes so well.”

She trembles at you, violet eyes flashing in anger, unable to do for fear of what you might do to her. Dave’s grip on her wrist tightens as he gives you a fractional shake of his head, one side of his mouth quirking down. You don’t give a single fuck; you’ve had a lot on your chest about these assholes.

“I always thought you were the logical one – that’s what we learn, you know, what other demons tell us. You’re the one who comes up with all the strategies, who does her research and knows where to strike where it hurts. And look at you now,” you say, glowering at her, your fingers held stiffly in an awkward position that will likely ache when you release her, your thumb never ceasing its steady movements, “reduced to attempted murders where you can’t win, where you know you won’t win, as everything falls about around you.”

“Karkat,” Kanaya says warningly from the front. You ignore her, twitch your thumb just a fraction too late, make Lalonde’s heart skip a beat. You have no idea what this is doing to her emotional state – the brain interprets things in a certain way depending on the situation – but it does not bode well, as she carefully, painstakingly pulls her needles out of your seat, her eyes never leaving yours. There’s fear there, you can see now; fear, but anger and determination.

“Leave her be, Karkat,” Kanaya says, more firmly this time, and you let out an irritated grunt but release your hold, fingers splaying wide as you retreat from her system. Lalonde folds against her brother, one hand rising to fist at her chest, and Dave is staring at you like you’d just danced a jig and declared you loved rainbows and unicorns. “You are in no position to hurt her, however much it would sate your appetite for violence.”

“Who the fuck says I like violence.” You absolutely do not. There is a reason you’ve never bothered asking for a change in post, however unexciting glorified babysitting duty can be.

“No one, because you don’t,” John says with the slightest smile, and then he informs Dave, “And that, love, is why Karkat was chosen as Terezi’s bodyguard.”

Dave says eloquently, “Christ on a cracker.”

“I do not think that would be particularly appetizing,” Terezi quips, startling a very unladylike snort out of Kanaya and making your lips quirk upwards in a sudden, sharp grin. John lets out a _snerk_ while Dave merely huddles down with his sister, his arm going around her shoulders as she lets out a shuddery sigh.

Silence settles again, save for the hum of the engine and the quiet words of the radio. You don’t quite dare recline fully in your seat, not yet, and instead remain awkwardly perched forward, staring out the window at the passing scenery. The darkness makes it harder to see, but it’s a half-moon tonight, so you are treated to the lovely view of endless forests of trees.  Gotta love those goddamn trees.  They look all the same after a while, too, what a fucking blast.

Quite suddenly, Lalonde’s eyes are open and watching you, and she says, “Why didn’t you kill me?”

You stare at her, incredulous. She stares back, defiant.

In the end, it’s Kanaya who explains, and all she says it, “We are not that kind of people, miss Lalonde. It would do you well to learn to accept that.”

Lalonde doesn’t say anything. Dave murmurs, “Learn something new every day, eh?”

“On a roadtrip with some of the most powerful demons around? Most certainly,” she responds tartly, almost petulantly. You bite your lip to hold back a smirk; at least she’d found her tongue again. She’d been quieter and quieter as the days went on, and you’re startled to hear her say, a little grudgingly, “I suppose I could be persuaded to your view of demonkind, Dave. Given time.”

Dave nuzzles Rose’s head with his nose, a faint smile across his lips, and doesn’t answer. The love between them in palpable; distantly, you can feel jealousy flare its head at you, and you mentally sigh and force it back down with the ease of long practice. Your life has never been easy; you’re not expecting any breaks now, even when Dave meets your eyes and something unspoken passes between you, and you turn to John and say, “You done staring yet, John? Unless you want some of this,” _this_ being emphasized with a strange flexing of your fingers.

“I’ll pass,” John says with a smile. It’s shaky, but it’s there, and he turns to the front, finally taking his eyes off of his moirail, and asks Kanaya, “How much longer?”

“We’ve only just started driving, John,” Kanaya says, voice pained, followed by a resigned “Four hours, if I break several interstate laws.”

Terezi laughs and says, “I will take care of any cops who dare stop us!”

You try and fail not to be unsettled, as does everyone else in the van.

* * *

Two hours later you’ve all ended up at some mansion that is literally in the middle of fucking nowhere. It’s also cold, there’s fucking snow falling in big fat, fluffy flakes, and the ground is slippery enough that you slip. John, in his munificence, uses a gust of icy wind to propel you to your feet, which in turn makes you fall flat on your face as opposed as to flat on your back.

He laughs when you worm a hand free and raise it to give him, or at least his approximate location, the finger. _Asshole_. You briefly consider never getting up, your cheek smushed into the cold layer of snow beneath you, until a warm hand grabs your arm and pulls you to your feet singlehandedly. A glance reveals it’s Dave, whose small smile lingers for a few heartbeats, his eyes holding yours, before he releases you and turns back to John, and you, for one heart-stopping second, wonder if the two of you just had a _moment_. You dismiss the thought another second later; all of the quadrant shit going around you lately is messing with your head.

You look back to see Kanaya and Lalonde quietly discussing something, Terezi already having plowed ahead to see the mansion up close, and when you look forward again Dave is watching you, under the guise of facing John, though his gaze flicks away the moment you zero in on it.

Yeah, okay, wow. Apparently Dave is impressed with you all of a sudden. Huh. You… find you aren’t actually all that opposed, as Terezi shoulder-checks the door open with her crackling hyena laugh.

By the time you make it in, shivering, Terezi’s disappeared – off exploring, you’d guess, though she might have immediately gone off to perform some Seer-y bullshit. Dave and John are marveling at the wide expanse of the front room, and as Kanaya and Rose enter, you find yourself staring directly at a statue of a ginormous fucking wizard. The thing’s almost three stories tall, Jesus shit.

“Where the fuck did you find this place, Kanaya,” you asked, strangled. More importantly, you wonder why the door hadn’t been locked. Even more importantly, what the ever-loving shit was this statue here for.

“It is a place where the Muse used to stay, when she felt the Lord was feeling, er. Particularly violent.” Kanaya shrugs when you turn to look at her. “She brought those with the Space aspect with her, on occasion – Jade and I, Porrim when she could make it. It is unused now that she is – dead.”

You had had no idea this place existed. You find you are surprisingly okay with this because fucking _what the hell_. This place is legitimately freaking you out. Who would even think of getting the statue in here? How would you even go about doing that?

“I think I’m going to pass out,” Dave says, and you see him craning his neck at the same statue you’ve been observing for the past few minutes. You haven’t even bothered looking at anything else, just this fucking enormous statue of a wizard that looks like it’s about to shit a brick. His arms pinwheel behind him as he leans back, attempting to see the whole thing, and John supports his back with an amused huff. “Why is this thing even here.”

“Calliope liked wizards,” Kanaya says simply, and then puts a hand on Rose’s arm and says, “This way, dear,” and the two walk up the stairs that dominate the giant hall. You watch them go with a faint whisper of suspicion, only to let out a screech when Terezi suddenly hits the side of your left leg with her cane, where the _shit_ had she come from. John and Dave are snickering at you, the traitors, as you turn to face her.

But her face is serious, and you immediately dismiss all of your embarrassment and righteous fury, meeting her blind gaze steadily.

“We are here now, which means Dave’s end of the bargain must be fulfilled,” she says quietly, enough so that Dave couldn’t hear you from the distance. John can, though, and his lips purse, making Dave immediately ask him what was wrong before the two turn their eyes to you. As a response, Terezi grabs your elbow and drags you into another room – the kitchen, you realize, where she has placed a bowl of water on the counter.

“What are you planning?” you ask her, still keeping your voice down. John can still hear you, should he choose to command the breeze to do so, and you can’t stop him from doing that, but at least Dave won’t be within earshot.

“There are exactly two ways this could go well,” Terezi says, deflecting your question.  You know better than to try and press, as her scarlet eyes stare unblinkingly at you. “There are thousands of ways at least one person dies.”

“So nothing new, then.”

“Perhaps not, but caution must be taken if all is to be successful.” Her gaze abruptly shifts to the bowl of water, and she strides towards it, cupping her hands around the rim. Her nails are chipped. “Particularly on your part, and on Dave’s, as well. The two of you will have to work together; I suspect he will tell you this too.”

Your eyes narrow, and you say pointedly, “What are you getting at, Terezi.”

She shrugs, a small motion, and for the first time in a long time you note the thinness of her shoulders, the sharpness of her back as she leans over the bowl. The water is swirling; you suspect that there are images there that you cannot see, and you keep quiet, not daring to try and interrupt her.

Dave inches around the corner, John right behind him, and you hold up a finger to your lips, shaking your head. John nods, murmurs something to Dave, and then he pulls away, his steps echoing in the giant hall with the gargantuan fucking statue as he walks away. Dave steps fully around the corner and leans on the wall, crossing his arms and wincing as it pulls on a scar somewhere. You watch him out of the corner of your eye and note the tenseness in his shoulders; he knows what’s coming just as well as Terezi does, and like she had predicted, it seems he is waiting for you to finish up.

The Seer abruptly straightens after a few more seconds, and then says, in a voice that threatens to shatter like glass, “Dirk will be here soon.” You stare at the back of her head until she turns to face you. The expression on her face is unreadable, and you immediately feel your stomach coil uneasily. “In response to your question from before, Karkles,” she says, and then trails off. When she speaks again, her voice is perfectly flat.

“The answer is Knights will be Knights.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in the final chapter, dirk strider shows up and shit gets real and wrecked. caw caw, motherfuckers.
> 
> (also, don't be stupid like Karkat and wear your seatbelts. shit saves lives, you know.)


	4. home is where your story begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat ==> Be a BAMF

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I think this could have been better and not as abrupt? Yes. Yes, I do. Will I do anything about it? No. No, I will not. And so I will leave this here for your viewing pleasure. ☆(❁‿❁)☆

Dave beckons to you aside the minute Terezi gives you the go-ahead to leave her to her Seer-y things. Inwardly you are freaking the fuck out; outwardly you are surly and angry and really, really uncertain as to what to do next.  It’s not really that different than any other day, but then again, it so totally is.

You follow him when he pushes himself off of his wall and takes a few steps away, admiring the smooth glide of his step, noting that he has healed quite nicely from the skirmish a few days ago. Then, he had been hobbling, just a barely detectable limp; now you can see the practiced motion, the way he walks silent by placing his weight on his heel first. He is a born fighter, and a very well-trained one.

“Unless we want everything to go to shit,” Dave says as soon as you both standing at the base of the giant fucking wizard statue, as it has been dubbed in your brain, “We’re gonna have to work together. Think you can handle it?”

“Sharing is fucking caring,” you reply, and then you add, “Terezi already told me. I’m assuming if we don’t, one of us is going to die.”

“Swing and a hit, bro. How’d you figure that out?”

“Gee, I don’t know, maybe because we’re both Knights and Knights like to go suicidal when loved ones are in danger?” You shrug. “It wasn’t much of a mental leap, believe me.”

Dave gives you a minute nod – probably didn’t even care about your answer, the fucker – and says casually, “You ever fight bladekind?”

“A few times.” Vriska and Terezi come to mind, both of whom are terrors with a blade. “Never to the death, though. First time for everything, I guess.”

“Cool. Looks like you and me are gonna strife, then.”  Your automatic reaction is a loud, adamant  _fuck no_ followed by a more neutral _why?_   “I fight like Dirk does,” Dave says, and there’s that easy smile on his face with the dimples again. You find yourself swallowing while simultaneously cursing hormones, and _fuck_ if Sollux isn’t going to tease the shit out of you later. “It’s good practice for you, because he’s faster than I am.”

“Wow, are you using logic? I hate logic.” He snorts, and you sigh. “Fine, let’s get this ass-kicking business over with, then. You have a place in mind?”

“Well, I don’t want to do it outside,” Dave says with a shake of his head, and then he shudders. “I was born and raised in Texas, not prepared for this kind of bullshit. Snow and ice, really?”

“Boo hoo, princess Strider can’t handle a little cold.” To be honest, you hate it too, and you suggest inanely, “We could do it here. Not like one of us could knock over this big fucking statue and cause widespread calamity.”

“Wide open space, lots of cover and all that,” Dave agrees, giving the entire room a once-over. You can see his eyes flick and focus on certain places – already developing a strategy, it seems, which you are notorious for not doing unless Terezi is involved in some way. “Should we be allowed bullshit demon powers or no?”

“Ahahaha fuck no. I don’t want to deal with your time-traveling thing. Let your brother have the brunt of it, Jesus.”

“Same goes to your weird Blood powers, singularly the scariest thing I’ve seen in my life, okay,” Dave says, a glint in his eye, and then there’s a very real blade in his hand. You blink, and you realize that yes, you’re doing this. Holy shit, you’re fighting Dave Strider, in the flesh, widely feared in the demon community back in his hunting days for his speed and prowess and unpredictability, so you can fight Dirk Strider, a legend with a blade who was remembered for clearing out a hive with minimal backup from his siblings. You are so _dumb_ sometimes, augh. “After you, good sir.”

“Fuck you,” you reply instinctively, popping two sickles into your hands. This isn’t your best pair, but it will have to do for now, as you shift into a more defensive position. “Like hell I’m taking the first step.”

A smirk curls Dave’s lip, and then he _moves_.

You had already anticipated this, though, and as soon as your eye detects movement you’re off like a shot, sensing him with your Blood powers and rushing right to where the sixty beats are pounding in your inner ear. He makes a sort of _oof_ sound as you barrel him over, but he’s gone just like that, not even winded, and you’re back to whipping around and trying not to get slashed to ribbons.

You dodge his next blow and block the next, shoving his sword between your two blades so he can’t pull it free. He struggles with it for a bit, his grip on his sword so tight his knuckles become pronounced through his skin, and you go with the hope that he was taught never to drop his weapon as you yank. He gets pulled along it, and conveniently your knee drives hard into his stomach while you twist, wrenching his shoulder.

“Ow,” he deadpans, and then his sword slips out of your grasp with a smooth, metallic sound and the next thing you know he’s retreated some distance away, at the feet of the giant fucking wizard statue. You can feel him in the room as he ducks out of view, and you take the opportunity to catch your breath as he weaves around, darting through shadows, remaining invisible to the naked eye. You turn with his every move, tracing him through his heartbeat, crouching and staying low as you keep your sickles raised.

For a single instant, there’s two heartbeats – one behind you, one in front – and you have only a split-second to feel which one is closer before you turn and block it. He doesn’t fall for the same trick twice, parrying when you attempt to block, and you hiss, “I thought we agreed on no powers, Strider.”

“You’ve got your blood-sensing thing,” he responds, grinning toothily. His other presence is gone, at the moment. “I think I’m allowed at least some way to compensate.”

“Asshole,” you say through gritted teeth, and he laughs as he pulls away, slashing at you sideways. You hold the blade back with one of your sickles and snap a foot out to kick his leg, which he dodges and returns with a lightning-quick punch to the face, which you don’t dodge but move your head with the blow, absorbing the momentum. “I can’t just turn it off, you know.”

“Guess who doesn’t give a fuck? Oh, wait,” and you dodge a slice of his katana with a roll, on your feet in an instant as the two of you circle each other. You’re half-aware that you’ve gained an audience – John and Kanaya at the top of the stairs, peering down at the room below. “I gotta give it to you, you’re better than I thought.”

“Fuck you, and also fuck your shitty powers.”

“Flowers first.” _Clang_ , and he’s gone again.

“Holy shit, shut up.” Two of him again, argh, in such close proximity it gets harder and harder to tell, and you duck down, block a blow, and then the Dave in front of you is gone, replaced by the one behind you. You hiss when the flat of his blade snaps out and hits your shoulder, a warning that he could have gotten you, and then snarl, “Literally the only reason I’m not down is because I can sense you coming.”

“Maybe, but you’ve got to use every advantage you can get,” Dave agrees, and then you spot his mistake as soon as he cuts down with his sword. You catch it in the exact same grip as before, but instead of pulling it out of his grasp, you wrench it upwards and snap his blade in half. He immediately ejects all of his whole swords from his syllabus, and they go flying, some pounding into walls, others clattering to the floor, and then he steps back, half-sword in hand.

“That was low,” he says, but there’s no accusing tone or venom in his voice.

“Your fucking mistake,” you snap back, crossing your arms, sickles popping back into your sylladex.

“I’m gonna have to get an entire new strife syllabus.”

“Tough luck.”

“Karkat, Dirk is going to be here in, like, two hours.”

Oh. Uh. Oops. “I thought he was going to go to Michigan!”

“He _is_ in Michigan. But he’ll be coming here, because that’s the way it goes with his super scary computer skills. This is it, man,” Dave says, eyes gleaming, “The final showdown, and look at me, a fucking disgrace. I’ve got 1/2bladekind right now, you ass, any sword I captchalogue is going to snap.”

“It’s not my fault you’re fucking incompetent,” you retort, as he takes a card out of his pocket – and indeed, his syllabus reads 1/2bladekind. Wow, you feel kind of like a dick now. “We can pick one up in town, calm your tits.”

“Karkat, need I remind you that we are in the middle of fucking _nowhere_.”

“You also have a Sylph of Space,” Kanaya says from the top of the staircase. When you look, she’s examining her nails as if she doesn’t have a care in the world, and John is hiding a grin behind his hand. “My charge is currently locked in a room, so I can be in and out in a couple of minutes if you are so desperate, mister Strider.”

“Marry me,” Dave says in response. Kanaya snorts and disappears with a pop and a smell of ozone, and you tuck your blades back into your sylladex. John remains at the top of the stairs, though he turns and is soon out of sight, and then it’s just you and Dave staring at each other. You’re not quite sure what to do next.

“One of us might die if we don’t get all of this shit together,” Dave says at last. He rubs his forehead with his hand, and it looks somewhat childish yet entirely endearing. To _hell_ with hormones, seriously.  “I’m still trying to process that.”

“We’re Knights. It’s what we do.” You think of Latula and _fuck_ , nope, you’re not thinking about Latula. “We protect. And we give our lives sometimes if that’s what it takes.”

“You seem surprisingly okay with this.”

“I’m not fucking _okay_ with it, I’ve just been under the pressure of impending death for so long I just don’t give a shit anymore.” A sudden well of fear rises and falls, like a wave against the sand, and goddammit you want Sollux here. You take out your phone. “You’d know, you’ve been running from your brother ever since everything went down.”

“Yeah,” he concedes. You notice he’s gotten closer, and do your best to seem intent on your phone. “It’s just, I don’t. Want anyone to die. It’s my fault all of this is happening, so.”

“Idiot,” you respond, typing out a message to Sollux: I EXPECTED YOU TO BREAK DOWN THE DOOR AT THIS POINT BUT I AM SEEING A REMARKABLE LACK OF DOOR-BREAKING. WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU? “It’s not your fault that you’re where you are now.”

He doesn’t say anything. He’s even closer now, and you instinctively hunch over your phone so he can’t see the screen even if he tried. Sollux’s responded with a classy ii’m workiing on iit, ok, not all of u2 have car2 and heatiing and 2hiit, and you put your phone away and look at him. There’s something in his expression you can’t quite recognize, and you find that yes, your heartbeat is going kind of crazy right now. Fuck, this never happened when he used to visit, but then you’d always thought he was kind of an opaque asshole.  To be fair, he still is kind of an asshole, but he’s not as opaque as you’d been led to believe.

 _This is what you get for being presumptuous_ , you reflect, as your hands settle on his chest and he leans down and kisses you.

It’s slow and languid and gentle and it warms you straight to the core; the fact he knows how to kiss like this implies he’s done it before, but you aren’t surprised, since he and John were definitely pale but were not without their red interludes (human romance is strange). Whatever, you don’t care, he smells like steel and sweat and he’s impossibly warm and his hand is on the small of your back and you arch upwards as he deepens the kiss. It’s really fucking pleasant, actually, and you make a small sound when his other hand goes to the back of your neck, his fingers lacing through your hair.

The two of you only break away when there’s another popping sound, a sudden scent of ozone that’s there and gone and as soon as it comes, and both of you look entirely presentable and innocent enough, his arms shoved into his pockets as he leans against the wall, yours crossed over your chest as you talk to each other, quietly, already arguing now that the moment is over. Kanaya says nothing of it, merely presents Dave with his new bladekind, and then you wonder how the fuck you managed to gain the affections of Dave douchebag Strider and simultaneously be completely okay with it when she leaves.

“She and Rose are totally going to bone,” Dave says suddenly, conveniently distracting you from your thoughts, and you sputter wordlessly as he adds, “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice. They’ve been sneaking glances at each other this whole trip.”

“Even in the fucking van?”

“Didn’t you see Kanaya adjust the mirror so she could see Rose’s face?”

“Holy hell, you aren’t even kidding. Jesus.”

John picks this moment to whoosh down the stairs with wind, and the two of you watch as he pulls out of the dive and flies upwards to settle himself on the giant fucking wizard statue’s head. He waves cheerfully at the two of you, and when he speaks, his voice resounds around the hall. “Think I’ll be safe up here from your brother, Dave?”

“Nope,” Dave answers. “Dirk is literally a ninja. That’s all I can say.” He turns to you and lowers his voice. “Your blood-sensing will come in handy for that, but don’t let your guard down.”

“As if I would,” you reply, eyebrows raised. “Have you forgotten about who I guard?”

* * *

Sollux busts through the door - well, he’s nice enough to keep the door on its hinges, but he busts through nonetheless - with a crackle of red and blue sparks, and he keeps his distance, floating in the air with his psionics as he observes the scene. Below him Dirk steps past the threshold, and for a moment, there is complete silence.

You wonder where Rose is, as Terezi caws from the top of the stairs, “Ah, Sollux! Just who I wanted to see. Let’s see who lasts longer, hm? I should warn you that justice always prevails!”

“Fuck you, Terezi,” Sollux snarls. It’s very convincing, but he sends you both a tiny smile that disappears as soon as it appears before he flings himself at her, narrowly dodging her unsheathed blade as his psionics push at her. She erects a teal-colored shield using her Mind powers and laughs maniacally as their supposed ‘battle’ begins, leaving you, John, Kanaya and Dave to face off against Dirk.

Predictably, no one says anything for a while. As far as you know, that’s how most showdowns start.

“You broke the deal, Dirk,” Dave eventually says, over the sparks and humming noises of the ensuing combat behind him. He hasn’t drawn his blade; neither has Dirk. Some sort of bullshit swordsman honor, maybe. “You were supposed to wait until I could go out to Michigan alone.”

“I thought to give you a fighting chance,” Dirk says. His words are distinct and precise, each syllable surgical in placement, sounding odd because they are pronounced perfectly. “You’ve got your friends with you. You might actually win.”

Dave looks like he might retort, but he doesn’t, and then he steps forward until the three of you are behind him, where he’s alone in facing off with his brother. He still hasn’t drawn his sword. “I said one-on-one, and that’s how it will be.”

“And if I attack your friends?”

“Deal’s off, then.”

“Perfect,” Dirk says, and you sense him flashstepping towards the three of you and charge him, locking his blade with your sickles before he can get close to John. Kanaya uncaps her lipstick with a violent whirring sound, and John’s hammer is out in an instant and he’s up and floating in the air, watching. You let Dirk pull his sword away and step back, crouching with a wordless snarl. Neither you nor Kanaya will succumb to his flashstep, because she can sense him in the spatial plane and you can do the same with his heartbeat alone, but John – John can’t, not as quickly as the two of you with his wind currents, and that’s why he’s in the air, to give him more time to dodge.

You planned this out before everything started, and so far, it’s going well enough, as Dirk turns to face Dave, who has finally taken out his blade, and then it’s like they disappear. Save for sudden contact, sudden clangs of metal against metal, it’s as if they aren’t even there, until Dirk suddenly comes for one of you, and you lunge to the left, Kanaya shifting her chainsaw exactly so it catches Dirk’s, the serrated edges chipping his sword before he shifts back, whirls on you with a slash that you parry, and jumps up to engage John, who merely flits out of the way before striking down with his hammer. Dirk blocks it even though it forces him to hit the ground hard, and he parries Dave’s slash as he rolls to his feet, hardly winded.

Terezi lets out another laugh, and then Sollux plummets to the ground, seemingly defeated, blood leeching from his mouth, his eyes, his nose. Overwhelming urgency almost makes you move to his side, but he knows that’s what you’re going to do, and he turns his head and gives a fractional shake of his head, _I’m fine_ , and in your distraction Dirk slams into you blade-first, the sword digging deep into your left side, _fuck_ that burns. You’d forgotten that he was rich enough to get blessed silver, the asshole, and you fight him off with a snarl, locking his blade in the same hold as you’d done to Dave before pulling it away from him.

Kanaya plucks it from your side and floats it away before shattering it, the fingers not holding the chainsaw moving in complex patterns akin to your Blood thing, and you retreat behind her, forcing your skin to stitch back together, healing from the inside out. He’d missed internal organs, by some stroke of luck, but it stills hurts like hell, and by the time you go back out with a vengeance, he’s already got another blade out and he and Dave are not flashstepping, going at each other like there’s no tomorrow. 

They’re dancing, you think distantly, admiring Dave’s smooth movements despite the situation, and then you move forward at just the right moment to scrape a deep gash in Dirk’s back, jumping out of the way at his immediate counterattack. Dave was right, they do have similar fighting styles, as you immediately step over the leg sweep he attempts to trip you with, all while parrying and blocking Dave’s blows.

What you don’t expect is the horizontal slash, and you dodge your head back violently to avoid it cutting your head off, but then _oh god your eye_. Just one eye, but it’s still your eye, holy fuck you can’t see out of it, and you stumble back as Kanaya sweeps in, her stance solid, her chainsaw nicking Dirk in the sword arm. He switches the blade from his right to his left easily, stabs Kanaya in the stomach while she’s pulling away (she’s too slow, shit) and she goes down. But she’s a rainbow drinker, she’ll be fine, you think, you hope, and you slam your hand over your eye and stitch optic nerves back together as John cracks down with his hammer so hard the tiled flooring splinters, pulling away with a speed you have not witnessed before as Dirk attempts to strike back. 

Wait, where’s Terezi? She’s still at the top of the stairs, you realize with sudden relief, unable to move, though, she overdid it with Sollux in order to make it convincing, and then Dave cries out and you turn and he’s down. _Shit_.

You feel for his heartbeat – still sixty, good, but it’s fluctuating here and there, not good, and you gesture at John with one hand as Dirk’s sword finds home in his brother’s shoulder, followed by Dave letting out a sharp exhale, teeth grinding. “Sorry about this, Dave,” you whisper, and then you reach out, feeling for his heart through your fingers and your inner ear, and once you have control of it you keep it steady at sixty. It’s all you can do, now, that and keep the blood from leaking out of his wounds, now it’s all up to John - but wait, John won’t dare strike when Dave is so close to Dirk, and Dirk knows it as he leans in closer, whispering something in Dave’s ear as his brother sucks in air wetly. You could try and move to take care of the guy yourself, but you might lose your concentration and then Dave might die and that is _not allowed_ in any circumstance.

John lands and swings his ginormous hammer at Dirk because why not, right. Instead Dirk pulls out another sword, ducks under his swing, and neatly slashes John on the side of his shoulder. He yanks the blade sword out with a squelching sound, waves it in John's face, and then catches the other shoulder, just as painfully than the other one. John stumbles back, hammer disappearing into a syllabus, hissing, the wind whipping around him but no, he can’t do anything because Dave is right there and he knows it, and he shares a pained glance with you as his arms hang uselessly at his sides.

To make it a real party, there’s a heartbeat coming closer now – Lalonde, shit, she got out of the room. Terezi doesn’t engage her, though - a glance at the stairs reveals the Seer is leaning heavily on her cane, watching Lalonde go forward with hawk eyes. _She knows something_ , you think as Lalonde makes her way down the stairs, taking in the situation, seeing you standing there completely vulnerable while you keep Dave alive, seeing John hunched over nearby, as Dave hisses at him to get out and Dirk goads him to come closer, and she walks over to her brothers, sedately, as if she has all the time in the world.

“Hey, Rose,” Dirk says with a nod and a flash of teeth when she stops next to him. “Fine time for you to join me.”

She nods back, looks down at her brother with her knitting needles popping into her hands. Abruptly her heel slams into Dave’s shoulder, right next to where Dirk’s sword is buried, and he lets out an agonized gasp as Dirk asks with a feral grin, “Would you like to do the honors?”

She considers this, one hand coming up to stroke her chin. “Rose,” Dave whispers, and he says nothing more. His pleading tone is enough.

“Your choice, Rosie,” Dirk says, and for the first time since the fight started, it is completely and utterly silent.

Dave watches her, eagle-spread, completely still, his expression unreadable but his eyes full of hurt and pain as her foot digs into his wound - and then you suddenly notice she’s placed her foot exactly so it prevents most of the blood from coming out, _did Terezi see this?_ Dave turns to look at you and mouths ‘ _thank you_ ,’ you swallow as your heart swells with sudden affection and misery, and Lalonde says coldly, “Gladly, brother dearest.”

There is a moment where time stills for you, your vision going hazily red at the edges, as her needles go up and Dirk pulls away. This is it, then, Terezi had been wrong; the end of Dave Strider, the reawakening of the Strilondes, the death of the only known Heir, the disappearance of the country’s only Seer. And you, a feeble Knight, had been unable to stop it, because of your own sheer incompetence, your own presumption that Dirk wouldn’t bypass your bullshit demon powers to win. Kanaya’s down, John’s down, Sollux and Terezi are down, hell, you’re down, too. It’s over.

It takes a moment for you to process what happens next.

Lalonde then proceeds to stab Dirk in the back of the neck, two needles on either side of his spine, and he’s so surprised that she even manages to twist hard enough that you can hear an audible crack, one that makes you shudder as Dirk falls lifelessly. You can do nothing but stare in shock, a part of you just remembering to keep your thumb moving.

Lalonde – Rose, no, Rose kicks him off of Dave, pulling her needles out in one smooth motion, and he stares at her, betrayed, as she pulls the sword out of Dave’s shoulder. And then the real kicker - while he's down there, twitching slightly, glaring at her with a myriad of emotions flipping across his stiff face, she jams the sword right through his chest, and you listen as his heartbeat jolts and then fades, slowly, until you can’t hear it at all.  Somewhere you think someone whispers distantly _that was hardcore_ and get the impression that it might be Kanaya.

Meanwhile, Rose doesn’t even look at Dirk’s body as she turns to you, points to Dave, and says harshly, “You can save him, right?”

You nod numbly. Your thumb twitches back and forth, sixty beats per second, as you marvel at the girl in front of you because she had just murdered her own human brother by breaking his neck. She is fearsome, even as she shakes in her lavender sweater, her dark pants stained with blood, her feet in white and purple kitty socks that have been dyed red, tears threatening to spill in her eyes, black lips so thin they were hardly visible.

“And Kanaya?”

Kanaya lets out a shuddering breath and says, “I’m fine, dear,” but does not get up, and she is fine, you can tell because her wound is already closing. Rose rushes to her instead as you carefully approach both Strider brothers, maintaining your hold on Dave’s heart. John’s stationed himself near Dirk now, peering at him, fully prepared to strike out if the man did anything, but of course he can’t, he’d been stabbed through the fucking heart and had his neck broken besides. And then there’s Dave, and you fall to your knees besides him, leaning over to check his shoulder. A clean exit and entry, and Dirk avoided the bone but cut nerves and muscle tissue. There’s blood everywhere, and the smell is overpowering to your nose.

You nibble your finger until it bleeds, and then you whisper, “Sorry,” lifting his good hand, popping a sickle out of your sylladex and slicing his thumb as lightly as possible, captchaloguing your weapon before letting your blood drip into his wound. You almost miss his grunt of acknowledgement and you dive in, immediately sensing where all of his wounds are and healing them while still maintaining your control over his heart. It gets harder and harder to multitask like this, keeping the heart from pumping the blood out of his body while you work on his shoulder, sewing tissue back together, reconnecting nerves, finally closing up the skin and leaving a rather impressive scar.

He sits up when you reel backwards, releasing your grip on him all at once, and pulls you to him so when you do fall over it’s into his lap. Yay soft landings, you think distantly, eyes closing, and then John’s saying something about he wants medical attention too, and Kanaya is scolding you from the floor for overdoing it again, and then you’re passed from Dave’s warm hands to bony ones you immediately recognize as Sollux's. 

He kisses your forehead and holds you close, murmuring something in your ear as he carries you and then sits down somewhere, and you let out an uneasy purr before you just pass the fuck out.

* * *

You wake up to find Sollux spooning ferociously you on the couch, his arms curled tight around your middle, his face tucked into the neat groove of your shoulder and neck, breath warm against your skin. He’s cleaned up, at least, looking decidedly less bloody than before, and you listen to his heartbeat for a bit, eyes closed, comfortable and warm and a little dizzy as you crack your eyes open.

For once, Terezi isn’t in your face, ready to startle you in the morning. Instead, John and Dave are dozing, heads together as they flop against the other half of the L-shaped couch, and you can hear Rose and Kanaya quietly murmuring together somewhere as Terezi snores loudly in an armchair. From the looks of things, Kanaya had placed her there, because she’s covered in a jade blanket that the rainbow drinker had made for herself, and you are very glad to see she’s still alive.

You gingerly push yourself up to a seated position and have the immediate urge to retch. Sollux predicted this and placed one of those plastic buckets for cleaning shit nearby, and you make good use of it. What dribbles out is, predictably, blood, your blood, and you feel faintly disgusted as Sollux sits up afterwards, his arms still secure around your middle, his chin now resting in your hair.

“Overdid it again, KK,” he says, exasperated, but also fond, and you headbutt him lightly, causing him to swat your nose.

“He was going to die if I didn’t heal it,” you say, retaliating by checking him with your shoulder, not even close to hard enough to hurt him. “Shoulder wounds can be fatal because they’re so close to the heart and Dirk was an ass and hit the major veins and nerves and shit.”

Sollux hums noncommittally and kisses the tip of your ear, as you lace your fingers through his on your stomach. You don’t even care how pale the two of you are being; it’s been a while since you’ve last seen him, and after yesterday’s clusterfuck, you think you’re allowed a bit of a break.

Neither of you say anything for a while, instead listening to the conversation in what you’re pretty sure is in the kitchen and savoring each other’s warmth.

“DV told me he’s totally red for you, by the way,” Sollux says without warning, and you choke on nothing, causing him to snicker. “His exact words were that you are, and I quote, ‘the grouchiest asshole to grace the world who is too goddamn intent on the welfare of others for his own good, and also he’s hot as hell.’ Lucky you.”

“I don’t know how it happened,” you mutter, cheeks burning. “He visits one day half-dead, I kind of pitied him for that because he’s half-dead and bleeding and all that, and then it turns out he’s not actually terrible company.” Sollux breath hitches as he holds back a laugh, and you say miserably, “Sollux, I’m turning into a softhearted idiot, what do I do.”

“You were always a softhearted idiot,” he replies, and he laughs when you hiss _traitor_ under your breath, even though you know completely and utterly that you love this stupid Halfling so, so dearly. Then he stands up, taking you with him, and stoops down to grab the bucket without looking inside. “C’mon, let’s dump this and see what the girls are up to.”

“I need to take care of John’s wounds,” you remember suddenly, glancing over. Sure enough, the wounds have stopped bleeding, but his arms are held limp, having been struck solidly in the shoulder – from the side, though, not a stab like Dave’s but a cut, the blade digging maybe an inch into the flesh before being pulled away. Sollux pulls at you insistently, but you hold your ground.

“KK, you’re already drained – ”

“There aren’t any demons versed in Life close by.”

“KK - ”

“It’ll only take me a second,” you insist, and Sollux sighs.

“DV was right, you are too intent on the welfare of others for your own good. Fine, then, I’m not stopping you.” He lets go of you, shooing you off. “And because I’m such a great guy, I’ll even take care of your bucket. Be grateful, asshole.”

“Love you too, pot,” you say with a roll of your eyes.

“Same to you, kettle.”

You let out a snort, flashing him a diamond with both hands, and then you turn your attention onto John, gently shaking his shoulder as Sollux ambles away. John awakens by violently pulling his hammer out and almost clubbing you in the face, and you’re too tired to even flinch as the steel stops just before your flesh, held there by Sollux’s blue and red sparks. You give your moirail a nod of thanks, one he returns before turning around and walking his merry way once more, as you greet flatly, “Morning, John.”

“It’s actually around noon,” Dave murmurs sleepily from nearby, as John flushes and puts his hammer away. Pity wells in your chest; you brush it aside as you poke at John’s shoulder wounds, causing him to hiss, and Dave’s scarlet eyes open with a few tired blinks. “Hey, Karkles.”

“Don’t call me that,” you snap, but there’s nothing behind it, and he smiles lazily as you tell John, “I’m going to cut your hand,” grabbing it before he can resist and using the nail on your thumb to slit his palm.

“Gross, Karkat,” John says as you nip the same finger from last night and let a single drop bead and fall onto the cut. You retaliate to his comment by stitching up the skin so quickly it has to burn, and when you withdraw you find yourself a little off-balance again. Dave reaches out to steady you as John tests his arms and grimaces. “Jerk.”

“Only the best for you, Heir,” you respond, as Dave’s hand slides down your forearm and interlaces with yours. You cast him a wry look, though you don’t let go or pull away, and say to John, “It could be worse, Dirk could have gone for the bone.”

John wrinkles his nose. “Could you even heal that?”

“Nope.” 

Dave suddenly pulls you down next to him, his arm going around your waist, his face turning to bury itself in your hair. You fail to suppress a blush - Dave is just out of it at this point, he nearly died yesterday and slept maybe five hours - and flip John the bird when he giggles and informs you, “You two are hilarious together, holy shit.”

“Glad to see you’re not the peanut gallery for once,” Dave mumbles. His breath stirs the fine hairs by your ear.

John snorts and says nothing. Terezi’s snoring in the corner, Kanaya and Rose are talking in the kitchen, Dave’s body is warm against yours, and for the first time in a very long while, you feel like you’ve finally found a place akin to a home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will we ever know Karkat's weak point? Yes, because his weak point is that he cares too fucking much about everything. What a nice boy, I'm sure Dirk would give Dave his blessing if, you know, Karkat wasn't a demon and Dirk wasn't dead. Uh. Welp.
> 
> The Dave/Karkat thing is definitely kind of abrupt, though, I agree. Kinda makes you wonder why...
> 
> Thanks for all the support as always! You are all fantastic people and I really do appreciate you taking the time to read this <3

**Author's Note:**

> The wonderful sinistralScribe wrote the next installment in this universe, which is what I am going to consider canon from now on. [Read it here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3287588)!
> 
> Visit me on [tumblr](http://snowsheba.tumblr.com/) if you have questions, concerns, comments, et cetera. Don't forget to visit [sinistralScribe](http://sinistral-scribe.tumblr.com/) over there, too!
> 
> And, of course, all credit goes to [my-friend-the-frog](http://my-friend-the-frog.tumblr.com/) for the original AU :3

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Meddling Meddlesome Meddler](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3287588) by [sinistralScribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinistralScribe/pseuds/sinistralScribe)




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